From Malaysiakini
By Tony Thien
“We join tonight, tomorrow we start work.”
These were the words of PKR’s latest elected representative recruit Gabriel Adit Demong, 58.
Adit, who until two days ago was an independent state assemblyperson for Ngemah – a predominantly-Iban constituency in Sarawak’s central region – has on Saturday hosted a 330-table dinner in Sibu with PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim as the guest of honour.
Adit’s speech before a crowd of 4,000 people at Sibu Trade and Exhibition Centre was listened intently by his new boss Anwar, the recently-elected MP for Permatang Pauh and parliamentary opposition leader.
Adit acknowledged it would not be easy to bring about change in Sarawak but said he was confident that if everyone in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition worked together, “nothing would be impossible”.
He also revealed political attempts to “sabotage” the dinner, but added that he was happy the event went off without a hitch.
Those present at the function were other key PKR leaders – secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim, vice-president Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and information chief Tian Chua.
Also there were two DAP top guns in Sarawak, Wong Ho Leng, who is the state representative for Bukit Assek, and Chiew Chin Sing, the state assemblyperson for Kidurong.
The dinner theme, depicted by a large banner covering the backdrop of the stage, was ‘Change in the Making’.
Adit took the opportunity to also hand over 6,000 application forms of his supporters to Anwar and said there were another 6,000 to come.
Defectors from Dayak-based PRS
According to Adit, he first brought up the subject of him joining PKR during a visit to Anwar’s house recently.
The new PKR state assemblyperson is expected to play a leading role in spearheading the party’s preparations for the next state election due in two years’ time.
The campaign to take over the Sarawak goverment, which has already started, is being aided by defections of leaders from Dayak-based Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
Former Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) MP for Sri Amam Jimmy Donald, PRS divisional heads Munan Laja (Katibas), Stephen Kalai (Pahlawan), Tuba Ak Aga (Bukit Assek) and PRS deputy chairperson for Nangka, Peter Goh, were all seen submitting their application forms to Anwar.
Also at the dinner was Beginda Minda, who has ruffled a few political feathers recently with his bold call for long-time Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu to resign.
Sacked recently from the party because of his action, Beginda, who is from Kapit, was invited by Anwar along with several of his close friends, to the stage to address the crowd.
The PKR leader was clearly moved by the huge crowd, said to be one of the largest-ever political sit-down dinner gatherings in Sarawak.
An elderly Iban from Kanowit, who was among the dinner guests, commented that the atmosphere was akin to seeing the return of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), which was recently deregistered after an intense factional feud.
Anwar himself spoke on why change is necessary in Sarawak and repeated at least three times the importance of state leaders in the opposition alliance to work together to realise their common goal.
In the last general elections, unlike other states in the Peninsular, the opposition in Sarawak failed to agree on an electoral pact.
Addressing the pre-dominantly Dayak, DAP’s Chiew, who represents a mixed urban-rural constituency in Bintulu, spoke at length on the problems of native customary rights (NCR) land.
He assured that this lingering problem will be resolved under a Pakatan Rakyat government.
First to join, but more to come
Adit was the first elected representative in Sarawak to join the Pakatan opposition.
He said there were many BN members waiting in the wings to join PKR, adding that he had met some of them. However, Adit said he would let them announce their decision when the time comes.
With Adit’s entry, Sarawak PKR now has two state elected representatives. The other is Dominique Ng, the assemblyperson for the Chinese-majority seat of Padungan in the heart of Kuching.
Adit told Malaysiakini before the dinner kicked off that the most serious problem confronting Sarawak was what he called the ‘political castration’ of the Dayaks.
This, he said, has made the Dayaks “even meeker than a lamb” under the BN state government led by Chief Minister Taib.
“Enough is enough,” said Adit, who is closely related to former PBDS president and former federal minister Leo Moggie and the present PRS MP for Kanowit, Aaron Dagang.
Anwar observed a busy schedule from the time he arrived in Sibu on Saturday.
Apart from meeting with local leaders, he opened two new PKR branches, including one in Sarikei, about an hour’s drive from Sibu, before he left for Kuala Lumpur around noon the next day.
Yeah! Go for it! Time to get Taib out of the political scene. Let the Tusunami happen again.
It is time for the BN to be in opposition!
Let’s do it, Rakyat!
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“Change in the making” Yes Adit!!!, Yes Beginda !!!, Yes, enough is enough.
Well done and keep going Pakatan Rakyat.
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Bapak Anwar Ibrahim,
This is just the beginning. More will wake up and come to you. Please handle the situation carefully though I am confident that you know what you are doing. Do not ignore or loosen your grip on Sabah. And Jeffery Kittingan whom I contacted once via email and SMS from overseas should work harder to bring the people of Sabah out of BN’s grip. There are many silent majority in Sabah who are yearning for change and you, a KITTINGAN must lead them without fail this time. Please do not sell out the people like what the other KITTINGAN did.
I wish I can come back to Malaysia soon to show my support for you Pak Anwar and Jeff.
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datuk seri,
Bilakah agaknya Pakatan Rakyat akan mengibarkan bendera baru PR?
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Very uplifting report indeed. Seems our hopes for REAL change now hinges on courageous and decisive action on the part of representatives in Sarawak and Sabah. As events have shown, it’s unwise to rely too much on long-term Umno MPs showing any guts or gumption!
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“We join tonight, tomorrow we start work.”
Mr.Gabriel Adit Demong, you should have joint “Last night and started work yesterday”. Where were you?
Anyway nothings to late, WELCOME AND HOPE ALL GOES WELL.
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DSAI, THAT FIRST STEP TAKEN BY YB GABRIEL ADIT DEMONG TELLS US A MILLION FEELINGS IN SARAWAK. WISH ALL THE PKR MEMBERS A BRIGHTER FUTURE. GOOD LUCK AND WORK HARD TO CAPTURE SARAWAK.
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A Change we Need.
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Get Taib Mahmud & Jabu out!!!!!They have been CM & DCN too Long. Give others a chance…
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DSAI,
Tahniah saya ucapkan kepada PKR dan Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak.
Satu perkara yang selalu menghantui pengundi di Sarawak adalah pertandingan BANYAK PENJURU (lebih dari satu lawan satu).
Inilah yang menyebabkan Pakatan KALAH dengan BN. Kalau ONE to ONE seperti di Semenanjung pasti banyak kerusi telah dimenangi PR.
Biar PR benar-benar mencari satu formula penyelesaian bagi pertandingan banyak penjuru ini. Puak-puak dalam PR atau BEBAS ini sangat tidak sihat. MERUGIKAN Pakatan dan BEBAS Sahaja.
Pada hemat saya, Sarawak bukanlah kubu kuat BN. Saya tidak percaya BN akan bertahan pada pilihanraya Negeri akan datang. Bukan juga saya menidakkan kekuatan BN – ini supaya Pakatan bekerja KUAT. Yang paling penting gerak kerja dan penerangan dari Pakatan perlu dilakukan segera mulai sekarang. Jangan tunggu DUN Sarawak Bubar.
Orang “tua” atau pengundi lama atau generasi terdahulu telah diTIPU oleh BN. Sebab dalam fikiran mereka telah ditabur/masukkan/dipahat dengan satu yang saya sebut sebagai “sindrom pembohongan perlembagaan” iaitu BN itu Kerajaan dan Kerajaan itu BN. Siapa calon yang lawan BN itu melawan Kerajaan. PENYAKIT inilah yang perlu disembuhkan oleh Pakatan Rakyat.
Kalau ini dapat di”sembuhkan” – saya percaya rakyat tidak akan tertipu lagi dan mereka bebas memilih dan Pakatan ada peluang untuk menang.
Satu lagi yang sangat penting juga adalah POLITIK WANG. Pengundi akan dibeli oleh mereka yang memiliki WANG. Bagi masalah ini – Pengundi harus dididik untuk tidak terikat dengan pemberian Wang : berapapun nilainya.
Apabila diberi WANG – terima sebagai rezeki dan hak anda sebagai rakyat Malaysia TETAPI PILIH/Pangkah Parti yang ikut kata hati. (NOTA PENTING :Saya tidak mendorong politik wang disini).
“Laknat” atau “MALI” dalam bahasa IBAN/DAYAK juga sedikit sebanyak digunakan oleh mereka yang ada WANG dan tidak bertanggungjawab untuk “mengikat” pengundi terutama yang taat kepada ADAT. Saya nasihatkan kepada mereka yang percaya kepada kepercayaan “MALI” ini – ia hanya satu mitos dan tidak benar.Mungkin ada kebenaran dari segi adat tapi bukan POLITIK.
Kepada Orang Dayak yang masih percaya kepada konsep “MALI” ini, Jangan tertipu lagi – ini tidak ada kena mengena dengan politik terutamanya semasa mengundi. MALI yang saya percaya hanya berlaku dalam keadaan yang melibatkan ADAT DAYAK. Bukan hal terima wang dari CALON Pilihanraya.
Calon/Orang yang masih mencanangkan mitos “MALI” ini harus diawasi supaya jangan tertipu olehnya. Jangan samakan ADAT dengan PILIHAN RAYA.
Bahkan ada “segelintir” yang terikat untuk mengundi hanya dengan sebotol “TUAK”/BEER. Ini kenyataan yang pernah berlaku. Itupun ada kaitannya dengan “MALI”.
Bagaimana nak sembuhkan penyakit ini? Sudah tentu dengan TIDAK mempercayainya kerana politik bukannya ADAT.
Satu lagi ialah Parti PAS di dalam PAKATAN yang saya namakan sebagai “SINDROM TAKUT PAS” di kalangan pengundi Sarawak. Pada pilihan negeri Sarawak akan datang wakil PAS harus datang turun padang menjelaskan pendekatan PAS agar tidak ditipu oleh BN. Rakyat Sarawak terutamanya yang bukan Islam masih “TAKUT” kepada PAS yang pro ISLAM dan HUDUD.
PAS harus memberi pengertian kepada pengundi Sarawak bahawa PAS bukanlah seperti yang di”terang”kan dan “digambarkan” oleh BN di Sarawak. Kalau Sindrom takut PAS ini masih menebal di Sarawak, agak sukar juga Pakatan untuk menembusi Sarawak kerana majoriti rakyat Sarawak adalah bukan Islam (Kristian/Buddha/Hindu/Animisme).
Seterusnya Parti politik “DARI SEMENANJUNG”. Ini ada kaitan dengan sindrom Semenanjung “menjajah” Sarawak atau Sabah”. Ini mungkin benar dalam BN. Lihatlah pada pembangunan yang dibuat oleh BN selama 45 tahun (Sarawak Merdeka dalam Malaysia). Pembangunan wilayah TIDAK SEIMBANG. Walaupun Sarawak atau Sabah menyumbang hasil bumi yang tinggi untuk Malaysia.
Sindrom “Parti dari Semenanjung” ini juga harus diambil berat. Penjelasan dan penerangan yang terbaik dengan JAMINAN yang diterima pengundi harus difikirkan dan dilaksanakan.
Apabila semua ini dapat diatasi, lebih mudahlah kerja PR dan angin perubahan akan PASTI berlaku di Sarawak. Tidak mustahil TSUNAMI politik akan berlaku di Sarawak.
Apabila PR menjangkakan boleh memenangi DUN Sarawak, DSAI boleh fikirkan seorang Ketua Menteri dari suku DAYAK. Sebab dengan KESATUAN pengundi DAYAK akan menentukan majoriti kerusi di Sarawak termasuk undi POPULAR sama seperti Melayu di sebahagian besar negeri-negeri di Semenanjung.
Selamat Maju Jaya.
Keadilan Untuk Semua.
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DSAI, finaly my dream comes true you make my day Man.
I will as soon I am back home, to visit PKR Office in Sarikei. Expect 9 members from my family too. Cheers.
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I would like to wish gud luck 4 the success of PKR… Hidup DSAI!!! Hidup PR!!!
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Hello every body,
I don’t know whether any of you visited http://www.chedet.com recently. The latest post by Tun clearly showing that he is a racist. The comments for this post is nothing less than a pure hearted racist statements. Followin is my comment on the topic
How are you TUN,
UMNO is dieing because of Abdullah. In next election it will die and be destroyed because of Najib. and we will keep on blaming Chinese and Indians for it.
Just look at the comment in your blog. Most of them are racist. Malays are racist. We always blame Chinese or Indians to be the reason of our failure. All this special rights is just making Malays to be come weak and an incompetent race who just know to over react based on information which might or might not be true.
I do understand why this special right is important. We don’t want Malays to lose our political power and some UMNO member do not want to lose their easy way to make tons of money.
Statistically, how many Malay business can compete with others and be successful without the political support?? Maybe 5%. Is it the other races especially Chinese cause this failure or is it because of the Malays mentality which want every thing to be served with gold plate for them? Admit it, we (Malays) don’t like to work hard, we don’t like to read, don’t like to think and the most important we don’t like learn.
Just a question. How many billion being spent for IT industry and how many Malay companies have their own product and successfully marketed their product? As far as I know, there is only 3 Malay companies with their own IT products. And all this 3 companies is having problem to compete with other companies backed by UMNO politician which just sell product form over sea which are much more expensive and doesn’t suites our requirement(That’s the reason the High Speed Internet Connection Project Cost 500% more than the actual cost). They don’t have expertise and never solve any problem that their customers have especially government agencies. The government agency officer cannot and won’t take any action towards this political companies failure and forced to continue dealing with this UMNO supported companies because they are afraid of loosing their job or a promotion. The question, who is taking away Malays rights, UMNO or the other race and who get blamed for it??
People like me DO NOT SUPPORT UMNO because of the corruption and COMMUNIST like attitude shown by UMNO and it’s leaders. I seen this with my own eyes. I had a former teacher who now is a Minister in the Prime Minister Office. He teached me in standard 6. He was a person with high morality and a humble attitude. I know his economic status, but the day when he become a UMNO leader he also become a millionaire. Every thing that he thaught about self integrity and moral went down the drain when he became a Minister and helped UMNO top leaders to stop Tun Dr. Mahathir from being selected to represent Kubang Pasu in UMNO general meeting by giving RM200 to UMNO members including my father in law.He gave Tun a taste of his own medicine.
It’s seems that UMNO is a money making organization and one of the requirement to be come UMNO leaders is to forget about morality and self integrity. It’s nothing wrong to be rich, but in the process of doing so UMNO leaders is stepping on other Malay business man by taking away their opportunity although this UMNO leader have no qualification in doing whatever business project they are into.
This what makes UMNO to lose. This what makes young generation to vote opposition. UMNO is a organization full with bunch of lairs, unethical scumbag, and hypocrites which preach about Malay rights, doing good to society and other great things but never ever do anything close to what ever they said. And now we are going to have a coward as UMNO President who might as for commission just to attend parliament session.
The leaders of UMNO have to cook up new issues to win back support, and what is better than racial issues as what happen on 13th May. Don’t you agree Tun. When UMNO is racist , everybody else have to be racist. For others racism might be new, but for UMNO racism was and is always their power tools. Every time Malay lost their trust with UMNO, just create a race issue, Malay will come running back to their savior UMNO.
If UMNO stand for unity, their leader must not be a coward to propose and implement Single National School (Sekolah Wawasan). This is the key toward unity.
My son is 7 years old and he is surprised to see that I have Chinese and Indian friends. He said he don’t have any none Malay friends in school and he won’t see another Chinese or Indian student until he is in Secondary school. It’s to late then, for him none Malay are aliens with hidden agenda to hurt him. Any thing other race do is a threat for him.
When we Malay want to fight for our rights and preserve our Ketuanan Melayu. What about Chinese and Indian. Don’t they have rights to fight for things that they think is violating their rights.
Of course, all political leader will oppose this because they will lose their support and the most importantly their racist power tool. I am waiting for that leader(the one with balls and vision to see united Malaysia). If there is a race tension caused by this idea, let it be. Let us have a another 13th May and free our self from racism to become a united Malaysian.
Note for Chinese and Indian, why the hell when Chinese and Indian migrated to Britain or America you guys assimilated and become a part of that society. Why not you do it here?? ( May be because you have to become Malaysian which have the word Malay in it.) Remember you become Malay in Malaysian and not UMNO. Malay and UMNO is two different thing. UMNO is not Malay and all the special malay right was never enjoyed by average malay and bumiputera’s. The benifits is just for some UMNO leaders which I call them UMNOPUTRAS, the destroyers of Malaysia.
Racist Is Not The Issue By The People, But It Is A Power Tool For The Politician, And Every Time This Tool Is Used, The One That Get Hurt Is Us, The Common People, And The One That Get Strong And Powerful Is The Politician. So Next Time, Before We Get Emotional On Certain Racist Issues, Think First, Who Is Going To Benefit From It.
Frustrated Malay ( also known as Melayu Murtad by UMNOPUTRAS who don’t expect this comment to be published.)
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well done Adit, Taib boleh blah le, Jabu boleh blah le, Jabu kuda tunggangan Taib, Kalau Jabu bawa pati pesaka keluar pati bumiputra dah tentu Taib tercabut gigit yang dah longlai dan busuk tu. taib tak boleh buat apa, dia cuma tunggang Jabu yang menjual maruah bangsa Dayak di Sarawak, mentang-mentang bapa dia numpang, janganlah jadi penumpang Jabu.
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TAHNIAH SAHABAT DARI KAUM IBAN DAN DAYAK SERTA LAND DAYAK KERANA TELAH MEMULAKAN LANGKAH PERUBAHAN SERAWAK BARU. ADIT KENA MAKLUM KEPADA SEMUA KAUM IBAN, DAYAK, LAND DAYAK DAN LAIN-LAIN KAUM JANGAN SUKA DENGAR DAN LIHAT TV 3 SUKU, KENA LIHAT TV LAIN DARI TV1,TV2,TV3 SUKU. SELAGI KAUM-KAUM DISERAWAK SELALU LIHAT TV-TV YANG DISEBUT ITU, SELAGI ITU LAH PERUBAHAN TIDAK BOLIH DILAKUKAN.HARAPAN JUGA DITUJUKAN KEPADA KAUM-KAUM SAKAI, SENOI PRAK DISEMENANJONG SUPAYA DIKALANGAN MEREKA ADA KETUA ATAU TOK BATIN YANG BERANI KEHADAPAN MEMBAWA PERUBAHAN MINDA KEPADA KAUM-KAUM NYA. INI LAH YANG DIKATAKAN, KAUM-KAUM DISERAWAK BUKAN LAGI KATAK DIBAWAH TEMPURUNG, MEREKA TELAH BUKA MINDA, HARAP KANANG ANAK LANGKAU JUGA TURUT IKUT JEJAK ADIT. JANGAN INGAT ANUGERAH TANAH 20 EKAR KERANA JASA PAHLAWAN NEGARA ITU BERNILAI, TETAPI PERJUANGAN UNTUK KEADILAN CUKUP-CUKUP TINGGI NILAI NYA. HARAP KAUM-KAUM DI SONG, DURIN, KANOWIT, KAPIT, MUARA SELALANG SEJARAH PULAU KIDJANG TENGGELAM DAPAT MEMBUAT PERUBAHAN SETERUSNYA BERI LALUAN MUDAH DSAI UNTUK MENERAJUI NEGARA MALAYSIA YANG KITA CINTAI INI. WASSALAM
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Mr Gabriel adit
You will be remember for your courageous act.Wake up sarawak! Time for change
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That was a good sign that happened at central Sarawak. BUT be careful some joining for the sake of personal gain instead of party struggle these need to be screened carefully first.
Anyway good luck
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