Rafizi Predicts Election Before 24 July

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli has predicted that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak may call for the general election at least around July. He claimed that Najib has “run out of cards” with regard to the motion to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355) being tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

Previously, Rafizi through INVOKE has revelaed a survey which stated that 70.1% of Malay voters still do not know what the proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (also known as Act 355) is all about.

This is despite all the talk and controversy surrounding PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill which he proposed last year. The government has said it will take over the bill and table it in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting.

The survey conducted by Invoke Centre For Policy Initiative (I-CPI), showed that only 29.9%, or 12,857 Malay voters polled, knew about the bill.

The balance of 70.1%, or 30,173 respondents, claimed to be in the dark.

“This survey involved a total of 43,030 Malay voters nationwide, who were phoned at random between March 16 and yesterday,” Invoke’s chief Rafizi Ramli told a press conference at Invoke Malaysia here today.

The Pandan MP, when announcing the results of the survey, said out of the 29.9% who knew about the bill, only 44.4% felt it is the most important factor in the determination of the voting pattern for the next general election.

“The survey shows that 25.2%, or 3,240, felt it is not the most important factor and 30.4%, or 3,909, didn’t provide an answer.”

Only 34.9% of the 12,857 respondents who knew about the proposed amendments believed it is an important issue, added Rafizi.

“We found out that 27.1%, or 3,483, said that economic issues were more important. About 38%, or 4,890, didn’t answer the question.”

The survey also revealed that 54.3% of Malay voters who planned to vote for PAS were unaware of Hadi’s bill.

Rafizi claimed that the survey was meant to study the influence of the shariah bill on Malays’ decision on who to vote for in the general election, expected to take place latest by next year.

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