Whether the 11th Sarawak state general election will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead Malaysian political changes as happened in the 2006 and 2011 state polls?
The question I want to pose tonight is whether the 11th Sarawak state general election, whether held this year or next, will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead political changes in Malaysia.
In the ninth Sarawak state general election in 2006, DAP made history in Sarawak winning from one to six state assembly seats, spearheading the “308 political tsunami” of the 2008 Malaysian general election where the Umno/BN coalition was ousted from power as the government in five States and lost for the first time its two-thirds parliamentary majority.
The 2011 Sarawak State General Election made further history when Pakatan Rakyat won 15 State Assembly seats, with DAP winning 12 and PKR three. The major electoral shifts in the 2011 Sarawak state general election spearheaded the “Ubah” political awakening in the 13th Federal general elections, where Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the first minority Prime Minister in the nation’s history and still without two-thirds parliamentary majority – as UMNO/BN won 48% of electoral support although he won the majority of the 222 parliamentary seats because undemocratic constituency redelineations.
What is in store for the 11th Sarawak state general election which must be held by next August?
Will the 11th Sarawak state general election be the third time Sarawakians spearhead political changes in Malaysia in the next national polls which must be held by 2018?
Malaysian politics are now in unchartered waters ,as both political coalitions, the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat experienced unprecedented turmoil and even chaos.
In fact, UMNO/BN leaders do not have confidence that they can survive as the Federal government in the next general elections because of the slew of political and socio-economic scandals piling one after another – the most serious of which is undoubtedly the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal.
Recently, the foremost “brain-washing” headquarters of the UMNO/BN coalition government, the Biro Tatanegara in the Prime Minister’s Department – which have cost Malaysians taxpayers over R1.1 billion in the past three decades – issued a teaching module to get public feed on the state of terminal health of Barisan Nasional and the four states of terminal health asked are: (i) BN in Wad Biasa; (ii) BN in Wad Kecemasan; (iii) BN in ICU and (iv) BN in Tanah Kubur.
I would not be surprised if this is part of Opposition surveys but it is most shocking that this questionaire has come from the “brain-washing” command of the BN government in the Prime Minister’s Department, which is as good as an admission that those running the BTN have “brained-washed” themselves into believing that the UMNO/BN government in Putrajaya is not healthy at all and is in fact on its last legs!
I am prepared to show Najib, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or the ten Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department this Biro Tatanegara questionnaire if they are completely in the dark about it.
The Sarawak state general election will be the first polls after 2008 where there will be no Pakatan Rakyat comprising DAP, PKR and PAS, and this will also be the case in the 14th national General Election.
How can Sarawak voters spearhead for the third time political changes in Malaysia in the subsequent 14th Federal general elections?
This can be done, if the Sarawak voters can send out a loud and ummistakable message to all Malaysians that although there is no more Pakatan Rakyat, the PR Common Policy Framework of national unity, justice and prosperity of Malaysians, remains valid and relevant, and that all Malaysians want good governance to be the first and foremost agenda of government with a good and just government, vibrant economy, good jobs, good schools, good hospitals, efficient transportation system and safe and secure environment for all Malaysians.
Sarawakians can send out this message in the 11th Sarawak state election if DAP can not only secure our current 12 state assembly seats and PKR their three seats, but we can also reach out to win even more Sarawak state assembly seats currently held by the Barisan Nasional.
(Speech at the Sibu DAP Ceramah at the new Sibu DAP premises in Sibu on Sunday, June 21, 2015 at 9 pm)