KUALA LUMPUR: Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin (pix) is the most popular opposition leader nationwide, an independent public opinion survey on Malaysian Opposition Parties Strategic Communications 2019 showed.
Khairy’s standing as a person who speaks out without fear or favour garnered him 80% of the votes in the survey conducted by Citrine One Sdn Bhd, in collaboration with Callmark Solutions Sdn Bhd.
Interestingly, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak came in second with 64% as most popular opposition leader despite being engulfed in the 1MDB scandal.
“Out of 1,115 respondents, Najib seems to still have substantial support from the urban crowd as the majority of the respondents came from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor,“ said Ivlynn Yap, managing partner and crisis communication lead counsel of Citrine One Sdn Bhd.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang came in third with 52%.
Meanwhile, 170 out of 318 respondents saw Khairy, or KJ as he is better known, as the most trusted opposition leader among other leaders on the list.
A total of 33% of respondents said they chose these opposition leaders as they were vocal.
However, only 8% and 5% picked trustworthiness and honesty as attributes while 10% of respondents chose credibility for their choice of top opposition leaders.
“You may be seen as famous but at the end of the day your constituents would really vote for your action than your words,“ she said.
She said most respondents felt the opposition leaders need vast improvement to build their communication credibility.
“A total of 13% of respondents found the opposition’s communication inaccurate and inconsistent. Only 8% were convinced with the opposition leaders’ communications,“ she said.
Other opposition leaders on the list were Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan (49%), Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong (49%). Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (47%), Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Haji Openg (43%) and Datuk Dr. Dominic Lau (36%).
The survey also found that Umno is still the most popular opposition party with 69% of respondents marking them higher on the scale.
Next was PAS with 55% and MCA emerged third with 52% of votes.
“Based on the choices made in the survey, in general it is evident that trust is not a trait which the respondents associate the opposition party or leaders with. This should be of great concern to the related parties as with low trust factor, they may still face a big hurdle in urban and semi-urban constituencies,“ said Yap.
Another interesting finding is where more than half of the respondents (52%) feel that the opposition parties speak up more for their own interest while 29% felt they had their own agenda to fulfil.
Only 19% felt that these parties and leaders were speaking up for the rakyat’s wellbeing.
“If the opposition parties want to become a formidable force, they need to improve their interaction, service and trust amongst people,“ she said.
