For the past week, Sibu was on the lips of every Malaysian, igniting excitement and rekindling new hopes among Sarawakians and Malaysians that Sarawak and Malaysia are capable of far-reaching political changes in the near future.
The hard-fought DAP and Pakatan Rakyat victory in Sibu, where we turned around the 40%-60% odds on Nomination Day in the eight-day campaign to achieve a miraculous victory, has given to Sarawakians and Malaysians a glimpse of the possibility of New Politics and the replacement of the Barisan Nasional governments in Petrajaya and Putrajaya with Pakatan Rakyat governments in the next 12 to 24 months.
The seismic Sibu by-election victory, akin to a Sibu Miracle, has brought with it great challenges and responsibilities to the Sarawak DAP state leadership.
Forget about “rest” until the two great battles of the next Sarawak state general elections and the 13th General Elections are over.
The DAP Sarawak state committee, which must from today plan and work to build on the political momentum created by the Sibu victory, has three immediate challenges:
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To fully harness the political advances made in Sibu in the by-election by widening our support base, in particular enlisting young, idealistic and like-minded Ibans and Melanau/Melayu to join the DAP cause;
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To strengthen and expand the DAP organisation and political presence in Sarawak; and
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To forge and project a strong Pakatan Rakyat profile and presence in Sarawak.
The Sibu by-election victory does not belong to DAP alone. It is the victory of the great people of Sibu. It is also the victory of Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak as Ho Leng is the first PR candidature in Sarawak, with PKR, PAS and SNAP leaders working closely hand-in-hand with DAP to create the first PR Sarawak victory in history.
The forthcoming session of Parliament will be Sibu, Sarawak and even Sabah session as the Sibu by-election result serves notice to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that Sarawak and Sabah can no longer be regarded as “deposit states” – and Sarawakians and Sabahans are fully entitled to demand fair and just treatment of their rights as equal citizens of Malaysians 47 years after the formation of Malaysia.
As I said in my two tweets this morning:
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#Sibu Miracle 2Parliament @wongholeng will lead DAP Parl policy debate on 10th Msia Plan begin on 14//6 2highlight triple meaning of #P212
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#Sibu speaks 4all @wongholeng bring Voice of Sibu loud n clear 2Parl on frustrations nightmare hopes dream of Sibu/Swak/Msia Sibu stands tall
In his maiden speech in Parliament, Ho Leng will speak not just for Sibu or Sarawak but for all Malaysia.
In fact, Ho Leng was at work as MP for Sibu within 12 hours of the announcement of his election before he could catch his breath to get some rest from the hectic by-election campaigning.
This was because the very next day of 516 – which has joined 308 as symbolic milestones in Malaysians’ struggle for change – was the last day for MPs to submit questions for the June meeting of Parliament.
Ho Leng had put in questions close to the heart of Sibuans, Sarawakians and Malaysians.
I have also put in questions highlighting the need for the Barisan Nasional government, whether national or state, to redress many of the long-standing grievances of Sarawakians and Sabahans since the formation of Malaysia 47 years ago.
This is why two questions I am asking the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak next month are:
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To ask the Prime Minister whether he would set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry on the broken promises to Sabah and Sarawak on the formation of Malaysia in 1963, in particular just and equitable development of the people from the two rich states.
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to give the amounts of Federal allocations to Sarawak for each year since 1963, giving a breakdown of their uses.
I will visit Sabah next week and will discuss the parliamentary questions I have submitted highlighting why Sabahans are so aggrieved about the present political system which have made them feel that they are strangers in their own homeland.
[Speech at the post-Sibu by-election meeting of the Sarawak DAP State Committee in Sibu on Sunday 23rd May 2010]
I believe many parts of Sarawak and Sabah where the majority of the poor ppl are located know next to nothing about PR or DAP .Its imperative that DAP should spearhead into the hard core areas by regular meetings especially with the chieftans of the long houses and villages so that they will be aware of what is going on in the country. A little investment by providing them a notebook (which cost only a few hundreds for an unbranded one) will go a long way to educate them and bring them out of the darkness. Now is the golden opportunity to help them open their eyes and take them out of the crutchs of oppression and domination.
Will d new Sibu MP remind NR 2 tunaikan all d promises he made 2 Sibuans during d recently concluded buy election?
Make sure PR MPs r clean n genuine in serving rakyat, their bosses
Can they aspire 2 b 50-70% of d late Dr Goh Keng Swee?
NR n RM r expected 2 pay last repsects 2 Dr GKS in Sg today – how can these two corrupt sinners n liars face a titan who lived n died 4 his nation n people? Desecration
I think everyone in Sibu know and heard about LKS and DAP.
You can say news travel slower to East Malaysia….and that’s a fact.
So East Malaysians relied on TV and newspaper news…with no one participating in PR’s rallies or talks…and in the 12th GE…up to date news are not available..and thus…the continuation to vote for survival and peace in their own ways.
Now that all news are updated…they know who Najib is and witnessed first hand….the eyes of a devil at work…insulting the dignity of Foochows and religions and behaving so arrogant…as if he was talking to his naughty subjects..like the King Of Malaysia….to toe the line or else.
For rural Muslims…mostly programed to depend on UMNO B…the offers of more than RM100 million succeeded….yet I think…the Chinese voted more for keDAILan than UMNO B.
But you need at lease few thousand more votes to fight off phantom votes.
I think keDAILan in Hulu Selangor did win with a very small majority..all eaten up by phantom votes.
But in Sibu…we knew with more than 3500 majority votes..where postal votes not counted yet….DAP have won the election..which we saw the result was delayed more than 2 hours by EC..with no guts to tell the said results..perhaps waiting for more instruction..from Najib…and now blaming LGE delayed the result.
Any fool will know…when you know…you have won it…why should LGE play the delaying game?
Why was Hulu Selangor not delayed by LGE too?
Now we know that Sibuans are ready for change..we can expect it will spread like wild fire throughout Saraawak and Sabah.
LKS like to call in tsunami have struck…with a miraculous sign from Sibu.
I say….the wind of change is real and strong.
Naturally both of us are right….just different interpretations.
Well MACC is forced to investigate Najib now…but you can be very sure….the dare not touch their own master.
It all for show..to get people’s confidence…to fool Malaysians…on and on.
No way…MACC dare to hurl Najib for questioning.
YB LKS, bravo! Keep the pressure on BN, keep pressing on and on and on. God give u the strength, courage and wisdom to persevere in yr efforts to create (that’s right, ‘create’) a just, equitable and prosperous Malaysian malaysia where everyone (Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli and every citizen, named and unnamed here, can be proud of their place in the country and their place under the sun.
And do away with ISA. Thanks to RPK for continuing to wage the battles from abroad. Has BN (particularly UMNO since they call every shot even when they are fired from MIC/MCA/GERAKAN cannons) no shame!!!!!!!!!!
Now MACC main wayang – intends 2 investigate NR over his ‘U help me, I help U’ bribe in Sibu
Want 2 bet d outcome?
I am glad that we have elected one of the most intelligent people of Sibu to the parliament. At least this reflects the quality of Sibu population who are highly educated. I felt disappointed when we have so many from Sarawak who could not open their mouths to speak because many of these MPs are not well educated.
I did an investigation on the candidates for Sibu election http://veryfatlady.blogspot.com/2010/04/which-candidate-is-smarter.html and realised that Wong Ho Leng studied at a university of world ranking of 126, whereas the BN candidate studied at a place that is now ranked 936. With that, we trusted that Wong Ho Leng is a smarter representative.
The fact is, Wong Ho Leng also speaks better in public in the major Sibu languages, English and Mandarin and dialect. I believe most of you DAP successful candidates are those who speaks well – same level as Obama, instead of people like Tan Seri N who used the words b.s. in his well known 5 juta deal speech in Rejang Park. For that bribing speech, I am sure Wong Ho Leng is not good at all.
racial polarisation politics work very well in Sibu , that the formula for PR , very bad for Malaysia