Malaysiakini
Terence Netto | May 27, 10 1:31pm
COMMENT It’s now the turn of Sarawak’s BN leaders to display symptoms of election shell-shock.
Following DAP’s victory in the Sibu by-election, the trauma suffered by Sarawak’s BN chapter, hitherto so confident as the numerically superior component of federal BN’s safe electoral deposit in Borneo, displayed itself in unmistakable ways.
A couple of opposition representatives, hauled before the rights and privileges panel of the state assembly for misconduct at previous sittings, were last week meted out suspensions disproportionate to their reported misdemeanors.
No doubt, this can be attributed to Sarawak BN’s knee-jerk reaction to its defeat by DAP in a former safe haven.
A combination of punches straight to the nose of the opposition in the state assembly is one thing; following that with persiflage on what caused Sarawak BN’s defeat in Sibu is another.
First, it was the turn of Abang Johari Openg (left), state minister for housing, to provide the excuses for defeat.
“Provocative tactics” allegedly employed by Pakatan Rakyat leaders had caused the defeat of the SUPP candidate, claimed the state minister for housing and urban development.
By provocative tactics, Abang Johari meant the raising of the ‘Allah’ issue.
This supposedly stirred the feelings of Sibu’s Christians, hitherto content to read and use the word for the deity in their Bahasa Indonesian bibles, but during the election campaign abruptly aroused to agitated levels by its apparent proscription on the Peninsula and the government’s alleged destruction of 5,000 bibles employing that risible term.
Astir, Abang Johari would have us believe, these feelings rose to high dudgeon, a level enough to prompt a majority of the electorate’s 53% Christians to vote for the DAP candidate in preference to the SUPP nominee.
The latter party’s hapless president, George Chan, had in the last days of the campaign decried the raising of the issue as an example of politicians from the Peninsula dragging an issue peculiar to their region to contaminate an otherwise pristine political arena in Sarawak.
In other circumstances, Sarawak’s BN politicians have been known to lament the Peninsula’s apparent lack of empathy with their state’s concerns.
But in this case, the forging of a common cause over the ‘Allah’ issue was denounced as “dirty tactics”, derogatory of Sarawak’s dignity and reflective of Peninsula politicians’ deviousness.
Watch out Pakatan!
This boilerplate was given a further dose of the asinine by James Masing, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak leader and state minister of land development.
It’s not easy to unravel the tangled strands of his diatribe against the campaign methods of Pakatan, voiced in the Sarawak state assembly the other day.
But essentially, it floated the notion of the Dayak as ‘noble savage’ whose placid façade is rubbed the wrong way by the ‘provocative’ campaign tactics of opposition politicians from the Peninsula.
If the latter persist, the Dayak, especially the Iban, predicted Masing (right), would respond with the aggression that lurks beneath his veneer of civilisation brought on by the development of Sarawak and the urbanisation of the natives.
In Masing’s view, it’s not the plunder of their native customary rights land by the plutocracy that holds sway in Sarawak and other issues that would rouse the Dayak to indignant battle; it’s the ‘provocative’ campaign tactics of the opposition that would sooner do that.
Next time, the oppositionists unleash their brand of campaign tactics, the Dayaks will uncork their bottled-up aggression, says Masing. Watch out Pakatan!
It is apparent Umno’s denial syndrome on the Peninsula has become contagious.
The defeat in Sibu was enough to suggest that the parent body and its state chapter are afflicted with the same malady whose remedy is dislodgment – hook, line and sinker.
Sarawak BN leaders don’t fool yourselves by giving all sorts of excuses as to why Sibu fell to PR.
The people of Sibu are not stupid. They have eyes and ears – they know what BN is doing and how they are being marginalized.
DAP’s victory in Sibu is not a surprise at all.
this is what you called pure arrogance. This regime appointed itself teacher and god at the same time. With forked tongue, it will try to twist and turn. At the same time try to be hero for the people. Sure it has lots of cash to throw around, but people can see if it is boastful or arrogant. That’s why it was rejected at sibu. Sibu vomit out this self proclaimed teacher and god. Sibuans are clever. They staged a ‘robbery’ after this regime boast about milllions they would spend. In the end lose the election and still have to pay.
This regime is incapable of change. Probably will hahaha all the way and talk nonsense like a coward would do. They have balls but miniature one.
Does James Masing imply this?
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/03/09/indonesia.kalimantan.04/index.html
Yes.. reading the Sarawak papers during the past 3 days there is a lot of hostile talk against the opposition in Sarawak from the papers. On the ground, the poor people must be wondering why after so many years of independence, many natives are still living in the last century without running water and electricity.
http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2010/05/news-from-sarawak.html
What is impossible could be possible.
Changes are happening every where around the world and it’s not what we could control or stop it from happening.
It’s just like a “virus” or “heat waves” and sooner or later, it’ll happen right in our homeland.
You’ve seen countries like Australia, America, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Phillipines.
How arrogant or powerful their leaders are, it could never guarantee that they can hold on to their power forever.
Gerakan is “dead”, MCA is “paralysed” and MIC is suffering from “heart attack”.
So what’s so special about Umno B or SUPP!
Leaders that are deemed to be strong like Marcos, Bush, Suharto, Chen Shui Pian and many others have fallen, so what’s so great about ours.
Some call it the work of divine forces while some linked it to “karma” and whatever you name it, the “time bomb” in Umno B is ticking real fast!
After more than four decades, Sarawak have managed to make two families rich beyond their wildest dreams. That is not bad, consdering all the odds.
See the resident odd ball here, he thinks winning the by election is yam sheng the whole week long. We have nincompoop government because we have too make nincompoop balls around but I hope the number is fast declining because many of them are fast dying.
correction: We have nincompoop government because we have too MANY nincompoop balls around but I hope the number is fast declining because many of them are fast dying.
#4 touches on water/electricity supply in rural Sarawak…
Perhaps not many Malaysians are aware of the fact that thousands of homes in Sarawak are depending on generators (mostly personal) to light up their homes. At the current price of fuel, one can imagine the amount of money that has to be allocated for that purpose !
Some poor folks in my village can’t even own a generator. I guess I am one of the lucky few who own one. I am even luckier than the rest of my village folks because I have internet access though my celcom broadband is unreliable.
47 years but our condition is not much better than our grandparents before. Of course we are accessible by road, but it’s because of the opening of our land by SALCRA. Talking about SALCRA, some of us are yet to receive the dividend for our land after almost 10 years being ‘developed’ (should it reads ROBBED?).
To make matters worse, our elected YB ( from BN, of course) is too busy snatching idle land for his own plantation. Through his cunning agents/brokers, he has managed to ‘buy’ plots after plots of land so much so that our village is like an ‘island’ in his vast land. Rumours is spreading around claiming that he is the richest (millionaire ?) man in our community.
There’s no point to elect such a busy bussinessman come next state election !
Back to the issue of water/electricity, I wonder whether I could live long enough to enjoy such luxury.
For now, I am quite happy that I can still read this blog almost every day though my snail-paced broadband ussually means more gasoline is consumed to satisfy my reading appetite.
”SAVE SARAWAK, VOTE PR”
Educating d rural folks is top priority, followed by exposing d evil deeds of BN
Change d mind sets of d elderly n d younger generations
Remove n kill d irrelevant political parties 1 by 1: MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, etc
“Provocative?” … What do you mean?
You are only making things worst. Such comments will simply make us more angry, and even more determined to punish BN and to kick you out for good, come the next election … I can assure you that the wind of change will soon develop into a hurricane.
You have no respect for the Christian faith, how you expect us to respect you? You are the one who is provocative!
…and don’t forget, Chinese and Ibans are hard-working and paying tax, not you.
The next deal Najib would offer to MCA,Gerakan,MIC,SUPP,PBS n UPKO is ” If you deliver to me n Umno most if not all your allocated MPS seats and I can form the federal government,then come see me,the next day I will make you ministers and increase your salary ten times more but if you fail,you all will be C4ed. Hence my advice to these BN conponent parties is beware,leave BN now and join forces with PR, or you ended up joining atantuya.
Sabuans have spoken and Georgie boy is a sore looser….can never learn anything…being arrogant and boastful.
I guess so many years of good times for such a long long time…doing nothing…made Najib and Georgie boy planning to buy loyalties backfired..in Sibu.
Will they ever learn?
They will never admit any mistakes…and that’s what Georgie boy is doing now…talking like Chengho.
For future elections, even if the opposition put up the picture of a dog, people will still vote for the dog.
One of the greatest tragedies of Sarawak’s history is when Vyner Brooke chose to give Sarawak away to Britain…..and the second tragedy that has literally killed Sarawakians and made them remain poor “beyond their wildest dreams” is when they chose to join the Malaysian Federation instead of negotiating with the Brits to stay a bit longer and eventually declare independence like what Brunei did….they lost their forest, their land, their oil and now about to loose the shirts on their backs………isn’t it time you fellas declared independence before getting robbed by pirates like Rahman and Taib…..