THOSE behind this dubious research outfit called Emir Research must be out of their minds.

The survey results of 2,000 respondents are totally bizarre and beyond imagination.

To say more than 40% of Malaysian-Chinese support Umno says much about the manner of the research conducted, the motive behind it and who the respondents are.

To say that DAP has only 17% Chinese support is another bizarre attempt.

The question is: what has Umno done in the recent past to endear itself to the Chinese and what has DAP done to fall out of grace with the Chinese population?

I don’t think anything dramatic has happened to radically alter the perception of the Chinese community towards Umno or DAP.

Umno is still the No. 1 enemy of DAP; in fact, the the last general election in 2018 was fought tooth and tail by DAP and its fraternal parties in PH to defeat Umno and Barisan Nasional.

The vast majority of the Chinese threw their weight behind DAP.

But the support of the Chinese community for DAP might not be the same as before.

However, given the choice between Umno in BN and DAP in PH, non-Malays might go along with DAP.

Some sections of the Chinese community might not be happy with DAP or PH for various reasons, but this does not mean they are ready to cast their support for Umno, Bersatu and PAS.

I don’t think the Chinese community is ready to put up with extreme racial and religious parties; they might not happy with PH, but they have not forsaken DAP or PH.

The same thing might be true with Indians.

In the last general election, they voted overwhelmingly for DAP and PKR.

Like the Chinese, Indians might have been disappointed with PH during its short stint in federal power, but they are not ready to forsake DAP or PKR.

In other words, unless there is a major and far-reaching political realignment in Malaysian politics, Chinese and Indians will stick with PH.

Needless to say, these two communities affected by years of discrimination might want a much more reinvigorated DAP and PKR in PH.

Coming back to Emir Research, it is obvious that those behind it were motivated to paint a positive picture of the much-tainted Umno.

To talk about the popularity of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin seems to be another attempt to white-wash his government that has failed to come up with a responsible budget let alone address the Covid-19 pandemic.

Maybe, it would be more appropriate to rename this outfit as Emir Consultant. – November 17, 2020.

* P. Ramasamy is Penang deputy chief minister II.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.