KUALA LUMPUR – Emir Research, a newcomer to the political polling scene, has been mauled on social media for claiming in its latest survey findings that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s popularity was on the rise.
Blogger Mohamed Zakhir Mohamed says Emir Research’s attempt to prop up the Muhyiddin administration was both funny and pathetic.
He said that Emir Research should have polled other prevailing issues facing the citizens, instead of holding a“beauty contest” for politicians.
“It is really pathetic when more learned individuals among Muhyiddin’s tight circle deploy such moves in their sordid attempt to salvage any shred of leadership, as more and more Malaysians grow uneasy and displeased,” Zakhir, a director at Petra News, wrote on his blog.
Zakhir highlighted in his post that Emir Research is headed by Datuk Rais Hussin Mohd Arif, a supreme council member of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, which is led by Muhyiddin.
“Emir Research is a think tank to prop up the PPBM administration. Rais (is) pushing the envelope to portray Muhyiddin as still being above the ‘respectable range’ for Malaysians,” he said.
Datuk Jailani Harun, an aide to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Umno president, shared Facebook posts by netizens on the relationship between Emir Research and the ruling Bersatu party.
One Facebook post quoted by Jaliani said it would be unthinkable to expect Rais not to prop up his boss Muhyiddin in the poll.
“Might as well tell us your goat can talk,” Jailani jabbed at Rais in his posting.
In its latest quarterly poll, Emir Research said Muhyiddin was Malaysians’ prime minister of choice with an overwhelming 65% support, followed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (10%) and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (8%).
It also claimed that Muhyiddin enjoys the support of 50% of Chinese and 49% of Indians.
It said that the survey was conducted in August and involved 2,096 respondents.
Emir Research, which operates from Damansara Heights, sells itself as an independent think-tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research and boasts empirical findings “unsparing in its data-driven objectivity and unbiased accuracy”.
It describes Rais, its president and CEO, as “an avid strategist, perennial wordsmith, an accountable and serial entrepreneur, and a serious policy intellectual… a noted thought leader in Malaysia, a highly sought-after writer/columnist, and conference presenter”.
“Perhaps most notably, Dr Rais was responsible for overseeing the preparation of the first election manifesto to ever trigger a change of government in Malaysia,” it said.
The bio provided by Emir Research did not mention that Rais is a founding member of Bersatu and was its strategic expert when Dr Mahathir was the party’s chief.
Rais abandoned Dr Mahathir in the so-called Sheraton Move early this year that triggered the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government and propped Muhyiddin up as prime minister of the popularly-nicknamed “backdoor” government. – The Mole, November 19, 2020
