Merdeka Center has this uncanny knack of distorting survey results which are not collected via reliable research methods to suit their hidden agenda. Their latest survey to gauge PM Najib’s rating for December is no exception.
To have any credibility, any survey must have foolproof methodology and that includes a representative sample size that has been selected via a suitable sampling method. For a population of 27 million, a sample size of 1005 of which 60 percent are Malays, 31 percent Chinese and nine percent Indians is certainly unrepresentative of the Malaysian population composition and size.
Incredibly, Merdeka Center could still admit that the latest survey was carried out at a time when the government began announcing the rise in petrol prices, abolition of sugar subsidies, efforts to explain the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST), and also the rise in electricity tariff. Isn’t that research bias from the starting point? One does not need to be a rocket scientist to gauge that citizens are likely to lash back at the PM during such a challenging period. The fact remains that our PM is not one to dish out populist policies but will do the necessary for the good of the nation.
How can Merdeka Center use data collected when it is expected that public response would negative and compare it with a time in May 2009 when the PM just took over and morale cum prestige was high? Does this not smack of deliberate bias to elicit the type of results they want to collect to portray the PM in bad light?
We do not know the sampling method used for the 1005 respondents.
Neither do we know the age, gender, class, education and political background of the respondents. How can we be sure that deliberate sampling of anti-PM Malaysians was not carried out?
This is one of the most challenging times for Malaysia and the ruling government is doing their best to nip the problem in the bud AND to counter the lies and damaging propaganda of Pakatan Rakyat. Yet, instead of assessing how the PM’s policies have offset positives, Merdeka Center has done it again – to poison the minds of Malaysians via lies, distortions and convoluted facts.
Anyone can see that Merdeka Center’s survey results show a direct relationship between handouts and the PM’s ratings. The greater the handout (e.g. in 2011), the higher his rating. At the same time, the more protests that are held, the lower his rating. Such results are predictable and can be expected. Hence, it is a total waste of time researching something that even an uneducated person can predict.
Why not study how BR1M has alleviated the economic burden of Malaysians and which ethnic group has benefited most? How about a survey to see how schoolchildren are being influenced by Internet or how regional economic problems have affected Malaysia? Such studies would be not only more meaningful but would be of value if accompanied by constructive proposals as to how problems can be overcome.
But no, Merdeka Center must continue their diatribe against the PM. Why?
Does it have anything to do with the ones who provide the funds for this research center? Who commissioned the survey? Who is funding the center? If they want to achieve credibility, reveal once and for all the sponsors or financial backers. Otherwise, please have the decency to achieve valid results through reliable methodology and representative samples.
If not, just close shop and seek a career change if you cannot get your scientific instruments of research in order.
By Datuk Huan Cheng Guan
