Sex video: Anwar a victim of character assassination, reveals poll
April 03, 2011
Anwar at a PR ceramah at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam last Monday. — Picture by Choo Choy May
The poll, conducted by independent survey house Merdeka Centre last week, also discovered that respondents agree the video had been released to destroy the former deputy prime minister’s political career.
The survey was conducted via the telephone between March 24 and 27 and has an estimated margin of error of ± 4.40 per cent. A total of 504 respondents were selected via random stratified sampling method along the lines of state, ethnicity, gender and age.
The respondents comprised 59 per cent Malays, 32 per cent Chinese and nine per cent Indians.
According to survey findings obtained by The Malaysian Insider, of the 504 respondents polled, 85 per cent were aware of the existence of the video while 15 per cent were not.
A total of 45 per cent said Anwar was a victim of political character assassination while 22 per cent agreed that the leader was a man of poor moral standing.
Twenty-seven per cent said they were unsure and six per cent declined comment.
Anwar is currently undergoing his second sodomy trial.
When asked for their views on why video had surfaced, 39 per cent said they believed it was a ploy to destroy the Permatang Pauh MP’s career.
A total of 24 per cent said they were unsure while 22 per cent said it was likely designed to distract voters in the looming Sarawak state polls this April 16.
Only nine per cent said that the video was a part of Anwar’s ploy to gain public sympathy while four per cent said the video was authentic.
The 21-minute long video features a man with striking resemblance to Anwar engaging in sex acts with a woman, believed to be a foreign prostitute.
The “Datuk T” trio behind the caper, namely former Malacca chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay and Perkasa treasurer Datuk Shuib Lazim, have insisted that Anwar is the man in the video.
The three have since given statements to the police on the matter and surrendered the original clip, along with an Omega watch, which purportedly belongs to the opposition leader.
The clip first surfaced on March 21 when a private media screening was held at the historic Carcosa Seri Negara, which once housed the colonial British Resident, and later became a luxury hotel.
Following the screening, Anwar denied that he was the man, and called the emergence of the video recording a “scurrilous attack” against him, his family and Pakatan Rakyat.
The pact’s leaders have since gone on damage control-mode but analysts have predicted that the latest scandal would tarnish both Anwar’s and PR’s image and could affect the opposition’s chances in Sarawak.
When describing the outcome of the latest survey, Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian observed that the results reflected a significant level of public uncertainty over the video’s authenticity.
“A lot of grey areas with the public, denoting possibly uncertainty, some hesitation or simply the lack of information when talking about Anwar, given that most publicly available news about him tends to be one-sided and negative,” he said.
This was because the survey had also showed that while most people did not believe that Anwar was the man in the video, many also said they were unsure.
In total, 51 per cent did not believe that Anwar was the man in the 21-minute recording while a significant 29 per cent were unsure.
A total of 17 per cent believed in the video while three per cent strongly disbelieved.
When asked if the existence of the video would affect their confidence in PR, 48 per cent disagreed and 14 per cent said they were unsure.
Despite this however, a whopping 41 per cent said agreed that the latest caper would tarnish their view of PR.
Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and charged and convicted of sodomy. He spent six years in prison before the country’s top court overturned the conviction in 2004.
After his release, Anwar led his PKR, DAP and PAS to record gains in Election 2008, denying Barisan Nasional (BN) its traditional two-thirds parliamentary majority and cemented the three parties’ status as serious challengers for power with the formation of the PR pact.
But he was arrested later the same year and charged again in court on another sodomy accusation involving a former male aide, a charge he has denied. - Malaysian Insider
No comments:
Post a Comment