An observation by Peter John Jaban
The last general election was hotly anticipated. In fact, many of us thought it might even
prove to be the greatest upset in the history of Sarawak elections. The
opposition was riding high, matched equally by the height of anti-Taib
sentiment.
But polling night proved to be something of a letdown,
with Barisan Nasional returned in strength, in Sarawak especially. Sarawak voters, particularly those in the
rural areas, kept Barisan Nasional in power; without us, we would not be living
through another BN term which has dragged Malaysia through scandal and shame
worldwide.
Peter John Jaban, Sarawak For Sarawak (S4S) movement leader.
In Sarawak, this election seems to be a totally different
scenario. This time, Adenan is riding high in the opinion polls on
crowd-pleasing policies, while the opposition is in total disarray, plagued by
infighting within their coalition.
This is my greatest surprise and disappointment at the
same time: that the opposition seems to have given up entirely on any ambitions
or even any pretence of actually winning.
Already, long before even nomination day comes, they are
making statements that Adenan will still be CM and that they have no intention
to win.
In fact, they have announced that they will not even pick
up on probably their greatest weapon – Taib Mahmud, who is still mired in
corruption allegations worldwide.
Why enter the starting blocks if they don’t want to win
the race? Worse than that, why enter the
fray if you don’t even want to play the game?
The role of the opposition is to drive the incumbents to
perform better for the Rakyat and nothing is going to do that better than the
spectre of losing an election.
If the opposition concede defeat before the starting gun,
then they are effectively giving the incumbent party a clear field ahead.
At the moment, the bitterest battle is between DAP and
PKR. PKR have pre-empted seat
negotiations by announcing their candidates and DAP have responded with a
terrifying and frankly inappropriate outpouring of bile and venom against their
supposed allies.
The outcome? They weaken each other and by default,
strengthen Barisan Nasional. In the end, they are simply fighting over second
place, which they may consider important in the short term, but in the long
term, could cause untold damage.
Whichever opposition party ‘wins’ this dubious battle,
they both stand to come out scarred by the scrapping. Even worse, if they fail
to maintain even a viable minority presence, the incumbents will have free rein
to do whatever they choose.
This is why the opposition must maintain their focus, for
the sake of the Rakyat. Should one party obtain an absolute majority, then
constitutional changes can be made with impunity as they were by Taib and
Mahathir in the 70s and 80s, the period in which Sarawak lost so many of the
freedoms that we are now fighting to get back.
The only saving grace for the opposition is that the BN
side seems to be plagued by the same uncertainties, with the total
fragmentation of their coalition parties.
Four, five and even six-cornered fights seem a possibility - a messy
election indeed.
While some may argue that choice is good for democracy,
in a country where one party has ruled without break for 53 years, solidarity
must be considered preferable to choice and therefore I urge the opposition to
put petty differences aside and put the needs of the Rakyat first.
After all, the bigger and more important battle has not
even been addressed. The last election was a good indicator of why rural
Sarawak will most likely remain BN strongholds, through this one and through
the next until the system is changed.
Vote buying, money
politics, inequitable control of government machinery and development funding,
extensive gerrymandering, manipulation of postal votes, the lack of integrity
in the electoral roll – none of these have been addressed, in fact they have
been worsened by the redelineation process.
Adenan factor or no Adenan factor – BN stand to win; they have assured
it.
They were even able to do so last time round with Taib still
in place, surrounded by swirling rumour and accusation, and with a united and
motivated opposition who were giving it their best attempt.
The rural populace remain largely uneducated in their
role in their political process, some might claim deliberately so. They remain
desperately impoverished – worse off now than ever before with the threatened
and ongoing loss of their lands.
For them, RM30
makes a great difference and that doesn’t change whether more affluent urban
dwellers judge them for it or not.
The issues that face them remain the same – none have
been effectively addressed by the current administration. Land is the greatest of these and State
Government policy on this is largely unchanged with Lands and Survey still
recognizing huge tracts of Dayak land, as defined under their adat or customary
law, as state land under their new interpretation of the land code.
Unless this policy is changed, the rural communities will
be stripped of their hunting and foraging lands, theirs since time immemorial.
With GST and the
rising cost of living, the second great issue for rural people, this will weigh
even more heavily on them. Until a government appears that can settle the issue
of native title lands in favour of the community instead of in favour of
themselves, that can provide rural people with access to a decent income and a
market for their produce through effective rural connectivity and
infrastructure, the rural people will face only deepening privations in
Sarawak’s future.
This is why the opposition must compromise. If they want
a mandate to represent rural people, either in this election or the next, then
politicking and jostling for position must be set aside in order to protect the
most vulnerable in our state.
If not, the only
conclusion can be that they are promoting their own political interests over
those of the rural folk.
As for myself, I have made my own position clear on
numerous occasions. I am apolitical and will remain so. March 7, 2016
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