The Wool Over Sarawakians Eyes And The Two Third Majority In The DUN

 The Wool Over Sarawakians Eyes And The Two Third Majority In The DUN

I chanced upon a comment made a facebook user in which he said, ‘That is your takes, not hers. Whatever they found in England is not supposed to be broadcast like a football match. Not everything Government knows have to be told to all and sundry. What Government in the world does that? Even what is privy to your own party leaders are not told to all the party members for your adversaries to plan your failure. What a foolish notion. This is nothing more than a cheap political talk.

Senang kan? If that was easy to show GPS the exit - it would have been done long time ago. Hallo, they are still the Government with two third majority. What do you have? Nothing!

I shall refer to him as Enc Banyak Untung (BU).

He was responding to an article in which Sarawakians were invited to show the exit door to GPS in the looming PRN-12. The article referred to was a response to a statement made by a GPS lawmaker Datuk Sharifah Hasidah on the need to update the definition of ‘natives’ in the federal constitution.

While I do not think it was the intention of the Enc BU to openly and brazenly say that the acts of government politicians  hiding important matters from the eyes of the electorates is a commonly accepted practise among GPS politicians, it does however highlights certain facts about Sarawakians’  involvement in politics and the impact on their lives.

The one episode that comes to mind is the supposedly facts finding mission to London by a high powered delegation led by Datuk Sharifah Hasidah in July 2017. Upon their return they were unable to tell Sarawakians what they found or did not find in, relation to the MA63.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2017/07/09/sarawak-rep-ma63-london-trip-a-fact-finding-mission-not-waste-of-money/1416913

The sum total of what he said is GPS (and its predecessor, the Sarawak BN) is able to maintain its two third majority in the Sarawak DUN by hiding from the general Sarawakian public important matters that otherwise may cause them to lose their two third majority or even lose their grip on the governance of the state. And Enc BU took the opportunity to thumb his nose at the opposition and rub salt of their wounds by saying that inspite of all that the opposition are saying, they really have nothing to show for it.

Before I proceed further I wish to categorically say that in no way am I saying or even suggesting that what Enc BU said is the truth. I invite readers to make their own conclusion.

What we do know as a fact is this: As far as enjoying a two third majority in the dewan undangan negeri is concerned, BN Sarawak (now GPS) holds an enviable unbroken record. Is the overwhelming support from the general Sarawakian public the result of uninformed or under-informed electorate? I would say there is a possibility of that happening. Why? The performance of the GPS government (previously the Sarawak BN) leaves a lot to be desired but they continue to enjoy their two third majority in the Sarawak’s DUN. That makes them supremely confident about themselves and gives them enough power to pretty much do what they want to do.

Signs of incompetence, corruption, misuse of office and power are hard to miss. Sarawak has among the highest rate of incidence of hardcore poverty. Based on the recipients of the various aids programme from both the federal and state government, the number of the so-called B40 households in Sarawak today has exceeded 50%. The vast majority in this group are the dayaks and mostly rural based. The dayaks are also far from happy with the situation involving their NCR land and with a host of other issues.

Recently, the GPS government was put into a spot when the Batang Baleh log jam that threatened the safety of the Baleh Dam was shown to be caused by negligence of a state government linked agency. The education sector in Sarawak is plagued by the problem of a severe shortage of teachers and unsafe schools buildings and the list go on and on. You would have though that with all the natural resources that Sarawak possess or should possess, our living standards would at least equal if not surpass that of the Singaporeans.

What are we to do about this? Obviously Sarawakians must show GPS the exit door in the coming PRN. It is unacceptable that a government that cannot bring itself to govern with transparency is allowed to continue to govern us.

Wake up Sarawakians. Start the process to show the exit door to GPS now and you can start by sharing this write-up.

Why Sarawakians Must Change The State Government (English Version)

 Why Sarawakians Must Change The State Government

 

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher who lived circa 540 - 480 BCE once said that the only real constant is change. Change, for better or for worse, is an unalterable aspect of human life and to reject changes is only at one’s peril. In the context of politics and governance in Sarawak, the Covid.19 pandemic has highlighted how the absence of change in governance in Sarawak has been to the detriment of Sarawakians.

This is not the same as saying that all Sarawakians recognise and acknowledge this sad page in our lives.

When the pandemic first hit Sarawak in March 2020 and the first movement control order (MCO) went into effect on the 18th March 2020, most Sarawakians started to grapple with a reality that never crossed their mind before that. News started filtering in that rice exporting countries like Thailand and Vietnam had started restricting rice exports. Suddenly, Sarawakians were starring at the prospects of rice running out of stocks in the supermarkets and retail shops and the prospects of price increases. As restrictions on movement of people were enforced, businesses, especially those in the small size and medium size category started to suffer. Many had to close down and many jobs were lost. In June 2020, the Sarawak Labour Department reported that there 8151 cases of job lost because of the pandemic and many families, particularly families from the B40 category came down under tremendous financial pressure.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2020/06/13/department-kuching-division-posts-highest-number-of-labour-issues-reported-during-mco-phases/

When the number of Covid.19 patients started escalating, the hospital facilities were strained and there were fears that there was going to be insufficient ICU beds and ventilators. Clearly our health and medical system was not fully equipped for a pandemic of this scale and it finally dawned on Sarawakians just how adversely corruption and incompetence, displayed in the still-uncompleted Petra Jaya Hospital and the Sri Aman Hospital can impact on the lives of ordinary Sarawakians.

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2020/12/28/from-zero-to-2000-inside-malaysias-pandemic-year/

The education system too was severely impacted. Schools, colleges and universities were closed and face-to-face learning suspended. The students who suffered most were the rural based students. Limited or total lack of internet access, electronic devices and teachers who were ill-equipped for the shift to remote teaching combined to result in a near total breakdown in learning for these rural based children. All these despite the boast of the GPS government that they were fully committed to improving internet connectivity for the rural areas in Sarawak.

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/05/27/inequality-will-grow-if-rural-folk-cant-get-online-putrajaya-told/

What has all these to do with the total absence of change in governance in Sarawak?

After the Sarawak state elections in July 1970, Sarawak Alliance (Alliance), SUPP and Parti Pesaka Sarawak (Pesaka) formed a coalition to form the government of Sarawak. Later, Alliance and Pesaka merged to form what is today Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB). PBB and SUPP were the forerunners of Barisan Nasional (BN) in Sarawak. BN was formed in 1973 and registered as a coalition of 9 parties (including PBB and SUPP from Sarawak) in June 1974. BN Sarawak evolved into todays’s Gabungan Parti Sarawak, following the defeat of BN in the GE14 (in May 2018). Since 1969 until today, GPS and its predecessors i.e BN and PBB & SUPP before that, has had an unbroken record of 51 years of governance in Sarawak.

For over half a century, Sarawakians, particularly rural based Sarawakians were systematically and steadily fed a diet of half truths and spins. Schools and clinics are BN’s schools and clinics and if someone so much as dare to think about voting for an opposition candidate in an election, he or she and their immediate family members will immediately suffer the consequences. Sites of development projects were marked with signboards carrying the words Projek Kerajaan Barisan Nasional. Administrative institutions at village level like the ketua kampung or tuai rumah, the penghulu and government departments like JASA, KEMAS and RELA were and still are specialised units in BN’s propaganda machinery. All these were tasked to brainwash and control the rakyat through threats of withholding services.  In many places, the ketua kampongs are also the branch/unit heads of BN component parties in the area.

And after 51 years, the brainwashing was complete and BN became so entrenched in our psyche that it became almost impossible to imagine life without BN. Among others, Sarawakians were condition to believe that only BN (now GPS) can bring the developments needed to ensure their well being. While BN was so successful in positioning themselves in the minds of Sarawakians, they were incompetent and ineffective in governance. Not the least among their weaknesses were corrupt practises, incompetence, abuse of power, cronyism and lack of vision.

The problems associated with food security, dilapidated schools, inadequate and ill-equipped medical and health facilities, internet connectivity are already mentioned above. Declining housing affordability, slowing productivity growth, lack of employment opportunities now aggravated by skyrocketing inflation further add to the burden of the rakyat especially those in the rural communities. And the list goes on and on.

The dayaks, after over half a century and despite the best efforts of crusading native rights lawyers, are still struggling to assert their rights over their NCR land. Where is the proverbial spanner in the work in this issue? It is the refusal of the GPS government ( previously the Sarawak’s BN) to amend the Sarawak Land Code to accord the dayaks coded legal rights over their NCR land.

The sum total of all these failures of GPS boils down to just one thing: The interest of the leaders of GPS does not extend beyond their own incumbency. This is their one and only objective as all the financial and other benefits that they and their families, their cronies and all in their gravy train are obsessed with and addicted to cascades from their continuing incumbency. There is very little that the rakyat is suffering from that cannot be traced to GPS’s failure to govern in a competent, accountable, fair and equitable manner. The latest in GPS’s failures to champion the interest of Sarawakians is the failure of the GPS state cabinet (to represent the state government) to pressure the PN federal government to withdraw their appeal on the ‘Allah’ high court decision. A coalition of non-muslims MPs and ADUNs from Sarawak and Sabah representing both sides of the political divides jointly issued a statement urging the federal government to withdrawal the appeal but the Sarawak cabinet was, as usual, silent.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/03/16/in-rare-bipartisan-call-53-swak-and-sabah-reps-urge-putrajaya-to-drop-allah-appeal/

https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/03/17/ph-swak-to-cm-state-your-stance-on-putrajayas-decision-to-appeal-allah-ruling/

But these failures are masked by widely publicised perception changing projects like the LRT/ART, hydrogen buses, electric buses, Sarawak airline, a state-owned bank, a state-owned telecommunication company, a 5.2 km long bridge (supposed to be finance by the federal government but now to be wholly financed by the Sarawak government) and many more.

For these reasons and more, Sarawakians, in their own long term interest, must seriously consider changing the government in the coming state elections. There is already a viable alternative in the wing, who has proven that they genuinely have the interest of Sarawakians at heart.

The Addiction To Pain Called Malaya (English)

The Addiction To Pain Called Malaya

Abdul Rahman Jugah Barieng Alexander Nanta Linggi

“There is nothing wrong with working with Umno or other parties. Even DAP is harbouring the idea of working with other parties to replace Muhyiddin’s administration” ….quote Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi, Sec-Gen of GPS and of PBB.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/03/04/nanta-nothing-wrong-with-gps-working-with-umno-other-parties-to-form-govt/

For want of a better word or term to give apt description to GPS’s (formerly BN Sarawak) fascination and addiction to UMNO and all things Malaya, the psycho - medical term ‘sadomasochism disorder’ seems to fit the bill. Before we continue with this let us first recall what the preeminent paramount chief of the ibans, Tun Jugah Barieng said about Sarawak joining the federated states of Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah) and Singapore to form Malaysia in early days of 1962. He was recorded to have said anang baka tebu, manis ba pun tang tabar ba ujung which in English literally means do not be like the sugar cane, sweet at the beginning but tasteless at the end. The late Tun Jugah by the way is the grandfather of Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tun+jugah+on+sarawak+in+malaysia+anang+baka+tebu%2C+manis+ba+pun+tabal+ban+hujung&oq=&aqs=chrome.1.69i59i450l8.1296440j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

The vast majority of Sarawakians cannot quite understand why the leaders of the GPS government of Sarawak (formerly BN Sarawak) are so enamored with the leaders of Malaya, particularly Malaya’s leaders in UMNO, much to the detriment of Sarawak. The words from Alexander  Nanta which echos that peculiar sentiment is even more puzzling as the words of his grandfather have proven to be prophetic.

The journey of pain has been long one, 57 long years to be exact. It started on the 16th Sept 1963. From that date until this very day, it has been one long litany of betrayal and discrimination against Sarawak.

Power Sharing In The Malaysian Parliament

Malaysia was formed on the understanding that it will be a partner of equal status to the federated Malay states (aka Malaya), North Borneo (now Sabah) and Singapore. In 1964, the parliament of Malaysia had 159 seats or constituencies. Sarawak ( allocated 24 seats), Sabah (allocated 16 seats) and Singapore (allocated 15 seats) had a combined total of 55 seats and federated Malaya allocated 104 seats. Based strictly on the principle of equal partnership, Sarawak should have been allocated at least 39 seats. The loss of sweetness from the sugar cane had started, barely 1 year after the formation of Malaysia. It became clear to most of the leaders of Sarawak then that Tunku Abdul Rahman, the 1st prime minister of Malaysia never intended to be fair and equitable to Sarawak.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Malaysian_general_election

In August 1965, Singapore left the federation and became a independent sovereign state on its own. In the 1969 general elections (from the 10/05/1969 - 04/07/1970) there were 144 seats up for grabs. Sarawak’s allocation was 24 seats. In the 4th general elections in 1974, there were 154 seats up for contest. Sarawak allocation remained at 24 seats when it should have been at least 51 based on the principle of equal status. Reasons were assigned for the disparity, one of which was the scarce population of Sarawak relative to land mass. The end result of this disparity was not lost on Sarawakians. They were deprived of power in parliament and were not in full control over their own affairs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_Dewan_Rakyat,_4th_Malaysian_Parliament

Office of Sarawak’s Chief Minister and the constitutional crisis of 1966

The constitutional crisis of 1966 was among the darkest time if not the darkest in the annals of fairland Sarawak.

The Edge reported it in these words in Feb 2009 : Sarawak’s first Iban Chief Minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan was initiating land reform law to give the natives in the interior rights to acquire full title to Native Customary Land, which would enable them to sell their land rights to whomever they wished. The law, when passed, would also enable them to gain rights to large tracts of valuable forest land. This resulted in some assemblymen, with the alleged backing from the Federal Government, issuing a statement that expressed no confidence in Ningkan. This prompted Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman to demand his resignation. Ningkan refused, and was removed by the Governor. He took the case to the High Court of Borneo and was reinstated as the Chief Minister as the court decided that once appointed, a Chief minister may not be removed by the Governor unless the state assembly passes a motion of no confidence against him. Ningkan had planned to call for a snap election upon his reinstatement, but before he could do so, the Federal Government imposed a state of emergency in Sarawak citing chaos in the state.

Ningkan, the first Dayak Iban Chief Minister was unceremoniously sacked in a move orchestrated by Tunku Abdul Rahman. The pain of not having full control over our own affairs was now becoming more acute for Sarawakians.

Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74)

PDA74 is the bedrock of Malaysia’s oil and gas landscape and it created Malaysia’s only Fortune 500 company. For Sarawakians, 1st Oct 1974 however marked the 1st day Malaya-led and the UMNO driven federal government ‘legally stole’ Sarawak’s right over her own natural resources. Sarawak’s entire oil and gas resources was nationalised via PDA74 with the connivance of Sarawak’s 3rd Chief Minister Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’kub. Until today, the fight (if you can call it that) for the restoration of Sarawak’s right have not yielded anything substantial.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-why-sarawak-questions-petroleum-development-act

Relative to the profits that Malaya had enjoyed over the last 46 years, the gains from the commercial settlement agreement between Sarawak and Petronas, involving sales tax on O&G products and mining rights, may be described as crumbs falling from the master’s table. While Malaya prospered, enjoying infrastructures that rivals the developed countries of the world, rural based Sarawakians continue to depend on riverine transportation modes and at best, the jiwa murni roads. A running joke today is that jiwa yang murni is not visible in the jiwa murni roads. Sarawakians are still waiting for the Pain Borneo highway, the hospitals in Sri Aman and Petra Jaya to be completed and for the dilapidated schools to be fully repaired and made safe for students and teachers.

The Territorial Sea Act of 2012, the downgrading of Sarawak’s status from territory to state in 1976, all these serves to strengthen Malaya’s grip on the resources of Sarawak. Malaya based plantation companies like Felda group. Felcra group, Sime Darby group, IOI group, Boustead group, Tabung Haji, Tradewind group and many others controlled hundreds of thousands hectares of Sarawak’s land with hundreds of cases of encroachment into dayaks’ native customary (NCR). The discriminatory quotas for intakes into public universities and teachers training institutes caused Sarawak to be left far behind in almost all spheres of Malaysian lives because of the cascading effects of these discriminatory practises.

Knowing all these pain inflicting actions by the Malaya driven federal government against Sarawak, what is it that motivate Sarawak leaders in GPS ( formerly BN Sarawak) to continue to give the opportunity to Malaya-based parties to inflict more pain on Sarawak.

Sarawakians, let us put a stop to this madness. Let us show the exit door to GPS in the coming PRN.