Daim: Voters fed up with constant bickering
(The Star) – Voters may choose not to cast their votes as they are fed up with the constant bickering between the Government and opposition parties, said Umno veteran Tun Daim Zainuddin.
He added that this might cause the turnout rate to be low in the general election with a possibility of a hung parliament.
In an interview published in China Press yesterday, Daim said to prevent this situation, Umno and Barisan Nasional component parties must be loyal and vote for the coalition.
He said if not, the Opposition might win more parliamentary seats and the number of seats would be almost equally matched with Barisan.
Currently, the country has 222 parliamentary seats.
He said the country would have to suffer for a long time if there was a hung parliament.
Daim predicted that Pakatan Rakyat would retain the Penang and Kelantan state governments but it might lose Kedah.
On the current political crisis in Kedah, Daim said Barisan had a good chance to recapture the state.
“If there are right candidates, the Barisan can win Selangor. The prerequisite is to have new faces,” he said.
On Pakatan’s chances in Umno’s stronghold of Johor, Daim said it had a very slim chance.
“The Chinese voters do not like party- hopping candidates but the Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has appointed Datuk Chua Jui Meng, who left MCA and joined the PKR to be the Johor PKR chairman,” he said.
Daim said there might be 20% of the Chinese voters, mostly from rural areas, who would vote for Barisan in the election.
He said the people still wanted to vote for Barisan but they wanted to see changes in the coalition, adding that the people did not want a government which was always arguing.
Citing the example of the Kedah crisis where some state executive councillors rejected the Mentri Besar’s leadership and the sacking of Selangor state executive councillor Datuk Dr Hasan Ali, Daim said the people had given a chance to the Opposition to form a government but they continued to fight.
“Just imagine if the opposition parties had a chance to form the Federal Government, how big the fight will be. At the end of the day, I think the people will prefer to vote for Barisan,” he said.
