PKR’s blistering attack against Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to justify its ouster of the Selangor menteri besar did little to gain support for its cause online, says social media analysis agency Politweet.

 

Instead, a sentiment analysis of 2,602 randomly selected Twitter users who tweeted on the crisis found that the attacks on Khalid further alienated users of the micro-blogging site.

 

“Pakatan Rakyat’s (primarily PKR’s) actions during this whole crisis were widely-criticised, even by users who accepted Khalid’s dismissal.

 

“(Pakatan) was seen as taking action against Khalid in their own interest and not the people’s interest,” it said.

 

It said discernable patterns emerging during the observation period of Aug 9 to 15 showed that “speaking about past problems” involving the MB “served to make more users doubt” Pakatan.

 

“This pushed users to support Khalid further, though some became fed up with politics,” it observed.

 

It also found that Khalid’s decision to sack the five PKR and DAP representatives on the state executive council following their refusal to back him also gained support for the MB online.

 

“They (Twitter users) saw it as a bold move and decisive leadership,” it said.

 

However, PAS’ apparent support for Khalid in the earlier parts of the crisis split social media users who both criticised and praised the move.

 

Confusion abound

 

Politweet’s analysis also revealed that most of the observed Twitter users were “confused” over the sudden escalation of events and just “want the crisis to end” quickly.

 

Those marked as having “no opinion” - comprising almost 50 percent of the those studied - include users who only retweet relevant news items without making commentary on the articles themselves.

 

Interestingly, 22 percent of users observed support Khalid to stay as MB, double that of those who expressed desires for Khalid to leave.

 

About 20 percent of users had mixed opinions about whether or not Khalid should stay, with this group split between supporting snap polls, not supporting PKR leaders Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and not supportive of Pakatan at all or just plain unhappy about the crisis.

The MB crisis was sparked after PKR on Aug 9 sacked Khalid from the party for refusing to resign as MB to make way for its president Wan Azizah.

 

All three Pakatan parties endorsed Wan Azizah as their MB nominee last Sunday.

 

Khalid, now an Independent, remains as executive head of state as PAS has instructed its four members on the exco to stay put to ensure the government does not collapse before a new MB is sworn in.

 

However, the Selangor sultan has informed Khalid that he will only grant an audience to the MB on the matter after he returns from overseas on Aug 27.

 

According to its website, Politweet is a non-partisan research firm analysing interactions among Malaysians using social media.

Selangor crisis today

8.21am: Social media analysis agency Politweet says PKR's move to oust Khalid backfired online

12.56pm: PKR declines to reveal its plans if sultan rejects Wan Azizah

1.51pm: Analyst says Pakatan parties ' forced to be friends ' after the crisis

2.22pm: MB apologises for the crisis, says the attacks against him is a price he has to pay to uphold integrity

2.35pm: JAG, a coalition of women NGOs, says Wan Azizah unfairly criticised because of gender

3.25pm: Lim Kit Siang urges Pakatan leaders to meet on how to regain trust after MB crisis

3.42pm: Former Selangor exco member Rodziah Ismail says news portal defamed her by claiming she resigned as part of a 'deal'

6pm: PAS reveals it mooted Azmin Ali as an alternate MB candidate after its president Abdul Hadi Awang met sultan