SHAH ALAM, May 4 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) and Parti Amanah Negara are facing challenges with their party machinery’s readiness for the 14th general elections and the prevalent gift culture in election campaigns, an academic has said.
He noted however that PPBM and Amanah, as new political parties, would face restrictions or obstacles in the Malaysian political context.
Based on his visits to several locations for observations on how prepared each political party is for GE14, he told reporters here: "I found that clearly PPBM and Amanah have problems with the machinery.”
He also said Malaysia’s political scenario, where election candidates would have to go out and seek for votes was in contrast to other countries where candidates can use social media to campaign and expect votes.
He pointed out IDE’s March 23 to 26 survey, which found that 52 per cent of respondents said that aids handed out would be effective in influencing their votes for GE14.
The previous survey showed other campaign methods as being less effective, namely house-to-house visits (17 per cent), ceramah umum (13 per cent), posters and flags (five per cent), candidates active on social media (five per cent), ceramah kelompok (three per cent), candidates’ video (one per cent) and others (five per cent).
He noted that gifts such as bicycles, sewing machines and ovens could be very meaningful to voters, especially those in rural areas.
"This is the problem in Malaysia today because giving plays an important role. When it comes to giving, it means money, which means election campaigns require a huge amount of money,” he said.
GE14 will be the first general elections contested by the relatively new PPBM and Amanah, albeit under the ticket of established opposition party PKR.
PPBM was officially registered in September 2016 but its status is now pending court challenges, while Amanah was launched in September 2015.
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