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Early Polls: Will the winds of change finally blow in Sarawak?

Malaysia Chronicle

Pakatan Rakyat leaders are raring to go in Sarawak, where there is red-hot speculation that snap state elections will be held in July.

“Today, there is a news report of another BN meeting this weekend. Last week, there was also a whole day meeting. This is a sure sign for an early election,” Bukit Assek assemblyman and newly-elected Sibu MP Wong Ho Leng told Malaysia Chronicle.

Ironically, it was Wong’s shock victory in Sibu last month that convinced many pundits to change their forecast of a July state-polls to early 2011.

Salvaging an eroding support base

The buzz on the grapevine was that long-serving but unpopular Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud had agreed with Prime Minister Najib Razak to hold the 10th Sarawak state elections at the same time as the 13th general election for the entire nation.
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MACC gets a dirty dozen sacked in 2009

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Only 12 out of the estimated 1.2 million civil servants were sacked rather than disciplined in 2009 in graft-related cases investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its first year of operations.

According to documents made available to The Malaysian Insider, the MACC had forwarded 235 reports to the heads of government departments and agencies for disciplinary action in 2009.

However the MACC received feedback for only 182 cases, of which 90 or 49 per cent were given administrative warning.

And only 12 or 6.6 per cent of the public officials under probe were dismissed in 2009 although the MACC’s prosecution unit had sought disciplinary action be taken against the perpetrators.

MACC had also recommended that the government take a more proactive approach in its crusade against any breach of conduct in the country’s bloated public service.
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