Written by theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 16 May 2013 21:04
The recent one-week (May 6-13) poll conducted by The Edge’s online business portal (theedgemalaysia.com) on the political future of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was hijacked by parties believed to be cyber-troopers.
Before this survey, polls conducted by theedgemalaysia.com would normally attract 2,000 to 4,000 respondents whose responses were largely consistent with The Edge’s independent-minded readers, who form the majority of our readers.
On Tuesday May 14, when The Edge’s online editor Ho Wah Foon saw that the one-week survey had attracted 12,736 responses which were overwhelmingly one-sided, she immediately took down the poll.
Additionally, the poll had also been overtaken by events as Anwar has stated that he would continue to lead the Opposition.
Upon checking, the Edge IT department found that 6,354 of the responses came from one IP address, and about 1,700 came from several IP addresses within the same building. Another 2,000 responses came from seven different IP addresses.
From this, it was obvious that the poll had been compromised and the results could not be treated as reliable or objective.
The poll asked the question: “Should Anwar Ibrahim step down as leader after Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has failed to conquer Putrajaya in GE13?”
The two responses for people to vote on were:
1) No, he should continue to lead PR to the next GE as PR has won more seats than previous elections.
2) Yes, he should call it quits as he has made this pledge.
The poll was put up soon after the general election as Anwar’s stepping down was an issue of interest to many.