ONLY one in three Malaysians want PAS to contest on its own, according to a survey by Bersatu’s Bureau of Policy and Strategy.

The survey showed that 29.5% of the 2,881 respondents want the Islamist party to hoist its flag without joining forces with any other party.

Bersatu Bureau of Policy and Strategy head Dr Rais Hussin said the aim of the survey was to ask participants on who should PAS choose to collaborate with for GE14. 

“The survey also showed that 29.5% wanted PAS to join hands Umno, while 21.1% said PAS should join Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s camp.”

However, only 14.8% feel that PAS should face the next general election with Pakatan Harapan. 

The numbers were similar when asked whether PAS should field more Islamic scholars (ulama) as candidates in GE14 or if the party should include hudud implementation in its party manifesto – 38.4% were for more ulamas while 35.2% wanted to see hudud in PAS’ manifesto.

PAS also emerged as the more popular political party among the Malaysians polled.

According to the survey, 44.4% were in favour of PAS compared to 36.2% for Barisan Nasional, and 25.9% for Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

However, the survey, which was done in July-August 2016, does not take into account recent developments in PAS including its push for RUU355 and break-up with PKR.

The “What Malaysians Want” survey was based on 23 focus groups identifying issues relevant to Malaysians. Bersatu’s Bureau of Policy and Strategy formulated the 222-question survey after collating the discussion points from 162 participants from the focus groups. 

They then conducted face-to-face interviews with 2,881 Malaysians in more than 30 constituencies. The respondents consist of 52.2% men and 47.8% women. 

23.1% of the respondents were from cities, towns (49.8%), interiors (19.8%) and settlements like Felda (7.2%). The racial profile was 67.6% Malay, Chinese (23%), Indians (5.6%) and Sabah And Sarawak natives (3.7%). 

Education wise, 25.4% of those surveyed had degrees, diplomas and certificates (35.2%), and SPM or lower qualifications (39.4%).

The study was conducted between July and August 2016 before Bersatu was formalised. – May 10, 2017.