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ELECTION 2008: Outstation voters may swing the vote
21-Feb-2008, News Straits Times
By : LEE SIEW LIAN and MAZLINDA MAHMOOD.

A split down the middle among Kelantan voters may make out-of-state voters the tie-breakers in the general election, write LEE SIEW LIAN and MAZLINDA MAHMOOD.

THIS is Farrah Khairul Azhar’s first general election and she has not made up her mind on who will get her vote.

“I do not know which party I’m voting for yet,” said the research assistant, 23, who lives and works in Kuala Lumpur. She is one of an estimated 50,000 Kelantanese voters living and working outside the state, now the target of a Barisan Nasional campaign, Pakat Ke lik Ngundi, to return home to vote.

Just one seat short of forming the majority in the now-dissolved state assembly, the BN appears to be hoping these out-of-state voters will swing the upcoming elections its way.
The margins were thin in a number of state seats in the 2004 elections, with six turning on majorities of under 100 votes. The lowest was in the Kemuning state seat, with just two votes.

Voters like Farrah may make all the difference, going by the findings of a Merdeka Center survey of Kelantan in January. Voter responses show neither side having a firm upper hand at the moment, said director Ibrahim Suffian. “Out-of-state voters could be a big factor this time,” he said. About a quarter remain undecided on whether to keep Pas in power, or show the party the door, in view of initiatives like the federal government’s East Coast Economic Region development project.

Some 39 per cent of voters felt measures like the ECER was a reason to change the state government, while 31 per cent wanted to keep the current administration. But this result is not conclusive, going by voters’ high approval ratings for both the BN federal government and the Pas-led state government, and other factors. Interviews with 806 registered voters in a representative sample turned up conflicting indicators, he said.

Public satisfaction remains high at 76 per cent, and has improved since mid-2007 despite issues and pressures from rising inflation. With a quarter of voters saying they have no concerns in their neighbourhoods, no local issues stand out. Crime and public safety is top with nine per cent, followed by infrastructure development with eight per cent and moral decline, seven per cent.

Almost two-thirds said they were satisfied with the state government’s overall performance. At the same time, respondents seemed to lack confidence in the Pas state government to deal with major issues such as crime, drug abuse, unemployment and the lack of jobs. The issue that garnered the highest marks for the state government from voters was in tackling “moral decline", at 50 per cent.

“The public doesn’t see the state government as being able to solve these problems, aside from social problems,” Ibrahim said. Despite this broad lack of confidence, two-thirds said the state government had the ability to meet their aspirations. And, far more, almost three-quarters, said the federal government had the same ability.

Again, satisfaction with elected representatives was high across party lines. With the exception of Machang, which is held by the BN, most voters were happy with the performance of their MPs. They were mostly satisfied with their state assemblymen, with the exception of those within the Pengkalan Chepa parliamentary constituency, which are all held by Pas.

IN AN UPBEAT MOOD

KELANTAN voters are upbeat about the state economy and the business climate, despite worries about jobs and rising prices. “Economic sentiments in the state remain more positive than the national average,” said Ibrahim Suffian, director of the Merdeka Centre. Almost two-thirds of respondents said economic conditions in Kelantan were favourable, according to the centre’s survey of the state in January.

Fifty-eight per cent said they expected the economy to improve a year from now. Unemployment and the lack of jobs is the second most important issue among voters. Twelve per cent of voters rate it their top issue for the state government to deal with. The top issue is social problems, with 17 per cent, and third, drug abuse at nine per cent.