From Australian Financial Review
by Angus Grigg
Abdul Taib Mahmud drives a cream Rolls-Royce, wears a gem the size of a walnut on his ring finger and is said to have once paid $US2 million for a piano owned by Liberace.
The Chief Minister of Sarawak, like the late American entertainer, is certainly flamboyant and he’s been well rewarded for his 28-year rule of the resource-rich province. But his time at the top is coming to an end.
Having celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary last week, the man known as the “White Haired Raja” has begun talking about succession. The likely departure of the 72-year-old is sure to shake up local politics on the island of Borneo, but it could also have a profound impact at the national level.
The theory is that if Abdul Taib were to step down, fresh elections could be required in the East Malaysian state, as any successor would lack the influence to hold the local legislature together. This is an opportunity for national Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his three-party coalition, which has been working hard for some time to woo voters outside peninsula Malaysia.
If Anwar’s People’s Justice Party and its allies were to control the Sarawak parliament, analysts believe it would be only a matter of time before members of the national parliament from Sarawak tapped the public mood and crossed the floor in Kuala Lumpur. This would hand the government to Anwar and bring about the biggest political change in Malaysia since independence in 1957.
Such a scenario is some way off, but it’s the one confronting prime minister-in-waiting Najib Razak.
That’s why his government pulled out all stops to win a byelection in the state of Terengganu on January 17. It failed, handing another seat to the opposition, but the contest in the country’s north-east is a case study of what to expect when the battle for Sarawak begins.
Even by Malaysia’s lofty standards of political patronage, the Kuala Terengganu byelection was expensive. Najib and his ruling National Front coalition, desperate to arrest its electoral
fortunes, tried to spend its way to victory. The numbers are both appalling and beguiling.
All told, Najib, who is expected to take over from Abdullah Badawi in March, handed out $4.4 billion to voters. That works out at nearly $55,000 for each voter in the seaside electorate. The big-ticket items were the establishment of a $4.2 billion trust to manage the state’s oil revenue and the well-timed
handover of $169 million in petroleum royalties.
But this was not the headline act. In a ceremony the local press described as “controversial”, Najib Razak handed out $25 million in government contracts to 600 local firms at a party rally. Even more cynically, the government gave $21 million to Chinese schools in the district, just as it looked like the parents of these students would determine the election.
In the end, they didn’t and the government lost because Malay voters deserted it, while the ever-cautious Chinese either sat out the election or voted for the opposition. And while a 2.5
per cent swing against the government is hardly a landslide, the byelection loss would be very worrying for Najib given the amount of money thrown at the problem.
“The government’s traditional strategy of just buying votes failed,” said political analyst Wong Chin Huat, who lecturers at Monash University’s campus in Kuala Lumpur. “The win by the opposition showed the mood for change still exists in Malaysia.”
This mood for change is also breaking down traditional rivalries in a country long divided by race and religion. The opposition coalition won in Terengganu despite fielding a candidate from the deeply conservative Pan Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS). Not only did PAS gain more secular Malay voters, thanks to a moderating of its language, but it also did not scare off the Chinese.
This was despite Najib and the government doing their best to stoke racial and religious tension.
The victory is also a direct result of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim being able to hold together a coalition containing PAS, the Chinese moderates of the Democratic Action Party and his own
multiracial People’s Justice Party. It is, to say the least, a diverse coalition, united in many ways only by its hatred of a government that has ruled Malaysia since independence.
Finding common ground will be the challenge if the opposition ever comes to power, but for now it’s still focused on how to get there. Sarawak holds the key, and while patronage failed the government in Terengganu, it has long held sway in Borneo.
Getting more state seats is just not enough..PR need to wrestle Sarawak to finally punch the hole in the BN “Titanic Ship”..that is the major key…BN is sinking but slowly..we need to make it faster….
Reply
But of course the big NO..NO is no friendly fight between opposition parties in Sarawak…if that still happen..and I say what a big waste of resources and time…and the Hope of all Malaysian!!
Reply
I am a Kedahan , been working here (sarawak) almost a year now.And this is my personnel view.
1.Almost everybody hate tok uban , but still when it come to vote they will vote the BN because they are honest people,not nice taking the money but vote for somebody else.
2. Due to logistic , chances of voting fraud is very high,BE AWARE.
3.Due to the ethnic diversity,you have to tackle each of them separately.Do not just concentrate your effort on Chinese.Chinese by nature is Opportunistic , they will swing to opposition with or without persuasion.
Good Luck
Reply
Fence sitter Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
very true brother I fully support your comments especially 3 above
Reply
Amazing. An Australian media is able to understand Malaysian politics better then our own mainstream media which sees no evil and writes no evil.
Reply
dear DSAI,
1.go for the loggers.fuchous.
2.loggers will take care of rumah panjang tribal leaders.
3.let local pkr dayaks lead and feed them informaion on corruption,land grabbing etc.
cheers.
Reply
PKR nak menang kat Sarawak ada susah sikit, sebab org Sarawak ni cakap & komplen saja yg lebih tapi bab tindakan mereka ini kurang, nanti bila masa mengundi parti mana yg bagi lebih duit itulah mereka pangkah, kita sama2 tengok siapa yg akan menang nanti.
Kepada semua anak2 Sarawak saya tahu kebanyakkannya tidak suka cara “Pak Uban” memerintah tapi jgn cakap saja, buktikan pada hari mengundi nanti.
Jgn jadi bodoh oleh geng2 “Pak Uban”.
Reply
Jay Reply:
January 31st, 2009 at 2:50 pm
@ Budak Sarawak,
Saya ini orang Perak. Famili sebelah isteri saya orang Sarawak (Lawas). Betul apa yang hang kata, depa ini hate BN tapi bab-bab tindakan, takut, sokong jugak BN.
Lagipun, Keadilan dan Pas lambat bergerak. Saya nampak DAP aje terjamin menang di kawasan majoriti Cina. Yang PKR dan Pas boleh bungkus tikar. Tak ade chance.
PKR nak beri tumpuan pada Dayak. Okey lah, tapi ingat, bkan salah mereka pun kalo depa tak undi PKR. Dah lama pangkah Bn, taat setia lebih kuat dari orang Melayu kepada UMNO, tak kan tiba2 mereka nak tinggalkan. Tak mudah. Saya banyak baca artikel dari Semenanjung yg menuklis rttg harapan nak menawan Sarawak. Macam mudah aje. Huakakaka. Susah geng. Bukan senang.
Kawasan bumi Islam pun sama. Tiada parti yg setanding PBB. Tiada. Semarah2 orang Sarawak pun tak sampai nak tinggalkan BN. So, jangan haraplah Sarawak yg buka jalan. Atau Sabah. Mereka tak berani. Kenalah DSAI dan PR pastikan menang banyak di Semenanjung, baru ajak Sabah & Sarawak join.
Terakhir, tiada tokoh2 dalam PR di Sarawak. Baik tokoh Cina, Dayak mahupun Bumiputera Islam. Tiada. So, kena ajak parti2 BN di Sarawak yg kurang berpuas hati join PR.
Jangan berharap sangat. Ini 1st hand information. Harap diberi perhatian.
Reply
penyokong PR Reply:
January 31st, 2009 at 6:28 pm
betol ckp budak sarawak.. thatz true..kta iboh jadi bodoh ngn geng tok uban.. mereka adlh samseng business dn perampas hak2 pribumi swk yg berlagak baik dn warak..
Reply
The Tok Uban is the land pirates of Sarawak. He and cronies, once big timber tycoon companies (now no more timber to cut so they have been rampaging NCR lands) are taking the NCR land of Sarawak illegally legal and deprive the natives of their ancestral rights in the name of developments.The state government has been totally hijacked for self-interst & greed!!! The Dayaks leaders like Jabu are helpless lot. No shame keep on denying and pretending the community is ok, in actual fact is not. So voters must this time flush these BN pirates to their political toilet bowls & septic tanks so that Cahaya Mata Sarawak can collect it!!!!! That is how we voters feel here!. Help us DSAI!!!!
Reply
kemanakah peginya wahai hasil bumiku..dan apasal income tax tak turun-turun..yb ada bayar tax ke?
Reply
Honestly, Sarawakians of all origins should rightly blame themselves since 45 bloody years ago for transforming shepherd Taib Mahmud and his herds of donkeys into what they are today that cost the people dearly. Don’t grumble the past for the brighter future is waiting. . . Go for the BIG CHANGE without cost at all BUT with merely ONE VOTE from each of the Sarawakians to CHANGE ONCE AND FOR ALL !! NOW OR NEVER . . . . as the next generations rely on the present populaces to steer towards a better and prosperous future equally for every rightful Sarawakian.
Reply
penyokong PR Reply:
January 31st, 2009 at 6:32 pm
u are rite.. we must lead our new generation out from diz ‘colonial era’ under tok uban and sink all them by giving 100% vote to PR for this coming election.. im also voter in sarawak and ready to joining all of u to stand in one voice and one vote to raise PR take over prospect in sarawak…
Reply
DSAI,
Belum nampak lagi usaha bersungguh PR untuk menawan Sarawak. Marilah sama2 kita berjuang
Reply
Really need the changes…they are on helm for soooooo long…disgust with their ruling era..
Please find solution not to only tackle Chinese but also the Malays in N6 area. Not to forget the natives ibans, bidayuhs n etc.. please…we totally aside Tok Uban for long ago. He’s been too and I think its engough for him to be there!
Reply
menjana duit secara online perlukan fokus dan usaha yang berterusan
Reply