Wan Ahmad’s folly — Elias Camaroolzaman
MAY 27 — Is the Election Commission’s (EC) Wan Ahmad Wan Omar an Umno member? Who knows but he is not doing himself any favours by reacting with naïveté to Merdeka Center’s survey which showed that about half of those polled in West Malaysia don’t trust the election system.
The EC Number Two says that the sample size is too small and not reflective of the population and suggests that the pollster did some “curry masak” unscientific survey and just threw out some numbers.
Fact is that Merdeka Center has been around for a while and if the EC does some basic research they will know that all over the world, a sample size of between 1,000 and 2,000 respondents makes for a credible national survey.
But even more importantly, the respondents to the Merdeka Center poll on the electoral system were culled from the electoral roll circa 2010.
So unless Wan Ahmad is casting aspersions on his own electoral role, please understand this fact: the sample size of the survey would meet all international criteria.
The problem with Wan Ahmad and his friends at the EC is that they refuse to accept that a large number of Malaysians do not trust the electoral system, and their grouses run from postal votes to phantom voters.
If Wan Ahmad wants to be taken seriously by Malaysians, and not as an Umno stooge, he should discard his defensive stance and accept that more than 200,000 people came out on April 28 for a reason.
* Elias Camaroolzaman reads The Malaysian Insider.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
