Kempen Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) dan persepsi pengundi terhadap dasar kerajaan: Kajian kes Dewan Undangan Negeri (N25) Kajang, Selangor (By-election campaign and voter perception of government policies: A case study of the Kajang state legislative assembly (N25), Selangor)

Abstract

Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) adalah landasan bagi menjejak arah-aliran jangka pendek penilaian pengundi. PRK Dewan Undangan Negeri (N25) Kajang 2014 diadakan bagi mengisi kekosongan kerusi DUN Kajang melalui perletakan jawatan ADUN Kajang iaitu Lee Chin Cheh daripada Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kempen, isu dan persepsi terhadap dasar kerajaan negeri dan persekutuan dalam Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Dewan Undangan Negeri (N25) Kajang, Selangor. Beberapa kaedah telah digunakan iaitu penyelidikan perpustakaan, pemerhatian di lapangan dan soal selidik terhadap 300 orang responden di kesemua 16 Daerah Mengundi dalam DUN Kajang. Hasil kajian mendapati jenis kempen, manifesto parti dan calon menjadi medium utama dalam mempengaruhi sokongan responden kepada parti politik dalam PRK DUN Kajang. Keseluruhannya, persepsi terhadap dasar-dasar Kerajaan Negeri dan Kerajaan Pusat adalah positif namun pengundi mengharapkan agar isu ekonomi iaitu isu kenaikan harga barangan dan peluang pekerjaan dapat ditangani oleh pihak yang berwajib agar kehidupan mereka lebih baik. PRK DUN Kajang juga memperlihatkan pengekalan ‘status quo’ iaitu kemenangan kepada PKR kerana impak keputusan PRU 2013 masih baru dan terkesan oleh pengundi di DUN Kajang.

Katakunci: dasar kerajaan, isu ekonomi, kempen pilihanraya, peluang pekerjaan, persepsi pengundi, pilihan rayakecil

A by-election may provide a platform for trecking short term trends of an electorate’s thinking. The 2014 Kajang by-election was held to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Mr. Lee Chin Cheh , the assemblyman from the People Justice Party (PKR). The purpose of this study is to analyse campaign issues and voters’ perceptions of state and federal policies in the 2014 Kajang (N25) by-election. Primary data were gathered from 300 randomly sampled respondents of 16 polling districts in the Kajang state assembly, and analysed using the SPSS programme. The findings revealed that manifestos and candidate criteria were the most influential voting factors during the campaign period. Overall, the perception of the state and the federal government policies was positive but voters did expect economic issues, in particular, rising prices of goods and employment opportunities to be better addressed by authorities for their living standard and quality of life to be improved. The Kajang by-election also saw the Themed issue on Attitudinal and Institutional Dimensions of Malaysia’s Development preservation of the status quo by according victory to the PKR candidate. This could be due to the still fresh impress of the 2013 general election.

Keywords: by-election, economic issues, election campaign, employment opportunities, government policies, voterperception