Today is indeed a very auspicious family event as we gather here on the occasion of the 17th Triennial General Assembly of the Sarawak National Party. This TGA is the continuation of a series of such meetings which actually first began in the 1960s. However, we could also say that this is the first of the TGA after the rebirth of SNAP, because as from 5th November 2002 until 2010, SNAP was declared a deregistered society and was reborn only on 23rd June 2010, after many many years of enforced inactivity.
This act of deregistration was a cruel and may I say, a very unnecessary blow to the party like SNAP. We need to remind our people that SNAP was a party that helped make Malaysia possible. And since independence it has remained steadfastly loyal to the nation and the state. Its loyalty to the country and the loyalty of its leaders cannot be questioned by anyone, and for this reason the deregistration really tore through the hearts of many of us, who have meant well for the country and the party.
With its rebirth, we hope and pray that the party will experience its renaissance, and that like legendary phoenix bird, it will rise again amidst the ashes of destruction to begin life anew, and attain even greater heights for the benefits of our people. Ladies and Gentlemen, this TGA therefore, marks the first step of a new beginning for SNAP and for our people.
History – SNAP in the past 9 years
3 Ladies and gentlemen, SNAP is alive today, thanks to the relentless work of our leaders who have toiled all these years to keep the dream and purpose alive.
I wish I could also say that it is both alive and well. But, you see the second portion, being “well”, is a very subjective word, and by our high standard, it is, I must admit, not that well. Not because we did not want it that way, mind you. Not because the leadership had taken their collective eyes off the ball, as it were, but because as the so called de-registered party, we had to abstain from activities that were usually entitled, indeed, required, for registered organizations to do.
For those who have only a vague notion of the party’s history, SNAP was deregistered on 5th November 2002. The cause given was something technical, but I cannot help noticing that perhaps, there was a political agenda on certain people from the very beginning, to see that, the party finished off.
Well, I have got a message for those who intend to destroy SNAP. We do not want SNAP to die. SNAP has noble causes and glorious past which are rooted in the interests of the people. We will not let SNAP die. SNAP is one of the parties instrumental for the formation of Malaysia. Today, we in SNAP pledge to continue to be committed and be forever responsible, for the fullest compliance of the Malaysian Agreement, the 18 points in particular, in order to ensure that Malaysia today is what our forefathers, originally so desired in writing, mind and spirit.
However, the political cost of deregistration to the party, has been heavy indeed. Now, you know that, no organization could afford to be in deep freeze for this length of time, and expect to function in the optimal way, to have office-bearers, and to have membership recruitment drives. SNAP in effect, was merely a shell organization and has remained so since the day it got deregistered. In terms of operations, it could not have happened, any other way.
But those with ill intentions had only under-estimated that resoluteness of the party leadership. In times of need, when things were down, and the goings got tough, people got going and collectively, they became our bridge over trouble waters, as it were. Our leaders of the time took the matter of our deregistration to court and after a period of some 8 years, the court in effect, re-instated the party as a fully legal entity.
And today we would like to express publicly a word of thanks and gratitude to those who have laboured long and hard to keep the party going. These heroes are the following people:
1. Datuk Justine Jinggut, who was SNAP Deputy President then, acted as the principal litigant for the Party.
2. YBhg. the late Datuk Amar James Wong, who was SNAP Party President, for his unforgettable big role to ensure the re-instatement of SNAP; and
3. The present SNAP Leadership (CEC).
I am sure you will agree with me if I were to say that we will carry on the struggles to the best of our abilities so that their sacrifices would not be in vain.
4. While we are discussing and recalling our recent past or history, we must also look back in time, to a period when our world was, or so it seems, that much simpler and when our political affairs were somewhat more manageable.
Some leaders who also assume positions of influence and power, and for reasons better known to themselves, prefer not for us to learn history. I believe that history has much to teach us. I believe that for a community like ours, history is a must, for it gives us our bearing, our sense of direction and it allows us to know where we have been and, most importantly, where we should be going. As an old saying says, those who ignore history are apt to repeat the same mistakes.
As leaders it is our collective responsibility to continue and define the direction of the party; it is our responsibility to make the party grow, to develop and nurture it, and mobilize our people, and, with the help of God, to try and avoid making mistakes. Politics is about the contest for power. It is about the exercise of power. And in this respect, it is our target that we also will be part of those in power. As a political party, SNAP has clear objectives. But as a law abiding organization, it has always sought to do things in a proper and legal way. It has always abhorred underhanded tactics, and if you know the party well, you will know that it has always strove for justice and fairness of play.
And so today, I would like to bring you back briefly, to the time of our independence, when our people were quite new to politics, and parties like SNAP was in the process of self-definition, of building and strengthening itself.
Of course, in comparison to other societies, which can trace their history, affairs and politics to hundreds or even thousands of years, in our case it was only a matter of 50 years. But this is also very important to us, and the lessons that we must learn from them. For history is not only political in nature. It has its cultural dimension, and most crucially, it has its economic side.
Indeed, in our case, because we have a fairly short history, many of us can remember what it was like, fifty years ago. Where were our society and in particular our Dayak people then, and where are we now? We feel the political impact but how many of us know, the cultural and indeed the economic sides as well? Who, for instance, are the poorest people in Malaysia? Who has the highest drop-out rate in the schools? Who has the highest malnutrition in the country? What has happened to our resources and who have them now? And yet the Dayaks who are now so meek and so weak, were once, proud and strong people. What has happened? Who has presided in this period of our collective weakening? Who has presumed to lead our community, to represent us, and then see that we have become a people dispossessed? Deprived? Marginalised? Who are the willing participants, the co-conspirators of the policy of divide and rule? And yet it was always that way. We must learn, the Dayaks in particular. We must change and stop being political mercenaries, serving the politics of Divide and Rule, deployed by political forces in and outside Sarawak.
In the late 1950s, years before its official founding, and in the early 1960s SNAP leaders had to create a viable political organization that was acceptable to most of our peoples. They had to express their vision and aspirations as to where or in which direction where they wanted to bring their country and their peoples. They had to develop an ideology, or ideas for actions, that was in line with the thinking of the people and help propel SNAP to gain acceptance by the electorate and make it a force to reckon with. Most of all, they had to create an organization, which was capable of mobilizing political support and make them a credible force, that was also capable of governing the state together with other political organizations.
This then, in general, is the history of SNAP at the beginning, the legacy of SNAP from 1962-2002.
5 What about the Present. For the present we discuss our culture, our economic development and our politics.
5.1 Our culture. You may wonder why I chose to select the subject of culture in a speech as this one. After all, a party President on the way out should talk about, well more about the so called “political” matters. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, the fact is, cultural issues are also political ones, and in Sarawak, culture is a particularly significant matter, especially in our rural societies. Culture is the quality in a society that arises from a concern or care for what people in the society consider, as excellent in language, arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, and so on.
I do not wish to elaborate on these aspects of culture, except to ask, if there is in the official circles, a programme or a master plan to continue or teach our culture to our people. By allowing or having a programme for the continuation of our culture, the authorities concerned signal to our people that they recognize our existence, that we have a place in the body politic. Likewise, when they do away with an existing programme, that too, can be taken as a signal that they intend to do away with our culture. Let me illustrate. I would like you to reflect on what the authorities intend us to think when they did away with the Borneo Literature Bureau many years ago. The Borneo Literature Bureau, the BLB, was responsible for the publications of many titles in a number of languages and it was very popular with the peoples here. And yet the authorities shut it down. Why?
Was it a lack of fund, the usual excuse that they give when they refuse to survey our lands or were there some other motives? We are all loyal Malaysians and deserve to be given the means to cultivate our culture and language and to print our books. The shut down of the BLB was a grave mistake and it ought to be redressed.
It is foolish to try and kill the growth of local languages in the belief that somehow the knowledge of local languages encourages non-national development.
5.2 Our resources. At the time when we gained independence, it was our assumption that we had a lot of resources. Our place, as they say, was rich because we had lots of timber, oil & gas deposits, space and lands. But today, which is only about 49 years after our independent, the economic landscape is almost unrecognizable. What was once plentiful is simply no more. Our beloved State of Sarawak has now developed as one of the 4 bottom poorest states in 1Malaysia.
What has happened? Allow me, if you will, to liberally interpret a story that was said to have happened in Africa regarding a black native African in the company of another as they reflect on the activities of European colonialists, such as Lord Lugard, within their African world. There, many decades after the coming of the colonialists, the blacks had lost much of their properties, particularly their lands. As the 2 blacks talked to one another and related how it was like before all the changes came, one said to his friend: “you know, before these people came we have the lands and they have their papers and their documents. Being strangers to us, they did not have any lands. And then they taught us what is inside their papers and their documents, they taught us to sing and close our eyes and perform rituals. When we open our eyes, it was the strangers who have the lands and we are only left only with papers”.
You see, Lord Lugard and his fellow colonialists, or strangers as the black had classed them as, had always known that politics is really about the authoritative allocation of resources and were “enda jugau” when it came to getting what they really wanted. In our own world, it is instructive to know that the end product of development is just as important as the process of development, and that at all times we should seek fairness and our own allocation of resources. In our ignorance, we should not surrender our resources so readily and foolishly.
It is useless and immoral to support so called development policies, just because you feel that as a member of the so called ruling group you consider that it is your obligation to support any policy. Those who are members of the ruling body must not support immoral or bad laws, for your support can make poor your own people. One does not have to look far for compelling case. Consider the land policies, for instance. To say that Sarawak land laws and policies are controversial, would be a serious under-statement. There are literally, hundreds of cases before the court as the people challenged certain executive actions that have taken away lands and properties from them. Sarawak badly needs a body, such as a Land Commission, that can with finality decide over land matters and stop land grabbing. SNAP would support the setting up of such Land Commission.
The system of reward, the policy of development have resulted in an imbalance of growth, so that now, there are some who are extremely rich, but many others, are having to struggle to make a living. And so, where many rural societies have succeeded once, there are only a handful of peoples who have chosen to stay back in Kampungs and Longhouses. Many young people and the employables have left their homes to work in the towns and in other states.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what has happened as a result of the policy of development, is that, rural Sarawak is being “forced out” of its population. When thousands of people have to migrate, because of the lack of viable work opportunities in their local areas and when this happens on a scale so vast, that it boggles the mind, that is a symptom or a proof, that development policies are not working, that these policies are not enough or that they are not there at all.
What we need are people-centred policies, who will train them to be professionals and entrepreneurs. We need to modify the current policy of economic liberalization so that it will not merely favour the rich and big companies. The policies must allow our people to excel as well, and to enjoy traditional living in kampongs and longhouses with good income and high living standards.
5.3 Politics. I would like to use this occasion to clarify SNAP position in today’s political grouping in respect of a couple of points.
But initially, I should add that, SNAP has been in existence since the early 1960s, and it has remained true to its ideology of multi-racialism in which peoples of all origins and creed are shown respect. There is, in this great nation-state of ours, ample room for all ethnic groups to co-exist, without one threatening the other. The party has always believed in ethnic co-existence. That was true fifty years ago. It is still true today. SNAP wants its politics of multi-racialism be made the way of life for every Malaysian.
The other point that needs to be emphasised, at this stage, is the matter of party’s moderation. Again, this is central to the party’s ideology. It has preached and practiced moderation all these years and it stands by this position now. SNAP seeks accommodation amongst the country’s population and urges the government to fight poverty that exists in all ethnic communities, regardless of whether they are Dayaks, Malays or Chinese.
It also seeks social justice and respect for human rights and property. For this reason, it cannot condone that wanton land grabbing policies that seem to be practiced by certain quarters. The party condemns the apparently unchecked, the stealing of timber from the Pulau galau and tanah pemakai menoa in the rural areas, invariably by groups who claim to be well connected. Also, SNAP condemns the exclusions of NCR lands within Pulau galau and pemakai menoa from on-going perimeter survey exercise.
Indeed, the party’s stand is that these unfair practices ought to stop, before the matter became a serious national issue. In as far as these pulau and tanah have traditional owners, the unauthorised felling of the trees could be considered as thefts and the authorities should check them effectively.
Having said that, Ladies and Gentlemen, let us cast our attention to the present. First, as I have said initially, we are now in a weak position as a result of years of inactivity, a state of affairs which was brought about by our so called “deregistration”, suffice it to say that SNAP is ow in a period of rebuilding, of divisional and branch strengthening, and of remobilization
We have just been allowed to operate a bona fide political party. And therefore, now is not the time to rehash by whom or why this deregistration was put in motion, suffice it to say that SNAP is now in a period of rebuilding, of divisional and branch strengthening and of remobilization.
Second, as we all know, just as the party was recovering after its forced coma, so to speak, it had to face the last state election. The party, again as we all know, did not do as well as we had wanted. In the aftermath we have performed our post-mortem. Indeed, in some cases, there were a number of analyses made. We found out that there were practical reasons for the under-performance at the time and we have taken these to heart and we know that we will learn our lessons.
The results of the last state election were of two kinds. The first was the declaration, that SNAP considers itself as an organization, whose duty is to represent the people in all corners, of its chosen areas of operations. Up till now, it has been state wide, and I am glad to have led the party that has remained true, to its original purpose, direction and area of operations.
The second result is the fact that during the last election SNAP emphasised yet again, its commitment to operational independence. It would be the easy way out, to emplace itself, to one of the two “elephants” in the country which is, with Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat. We judged at the time that for the long term prospects of the party, it would be most practicable to have a centrist position. That is, to be third party that sits astride between BN and PR. This was the position that we took, although propaganda by certain unscrupulous elements in PR made us to be a BN stooge.
Indeed, so intense was the attack and the inventions by these elements to claim that we were actually set up by BN, that quite a few people actually believed these lies and fitnah.
Now, so many months after the elections, the truth has gradually emerged that we were indeed operating by our own selves and unsupported by either BN or PR. And now, so many months after the elections, some of these elements are showings signs of regrets and, if the rumours are true, they no longer talk contesting many seats for their party. The interesting part is that, a couple of the figures who have spent many months blackening the name of SNAP, and inventing lies, are also rumoured to be planning to run as candidates in the coming parliamentary elections. I ask you, Ladies and Gentlemen, would you vote for these sorts of people, who are perpetrators of lies and deceit? God help us, if they succeed in further deceit and get to be elected as MPs, they will be the real stooges of political parties based outside Sarawak. And shame be on them for intending to make Sarawak a colony.
6. The possibilities for the future of SNAP. Politics is the “art of the possible”. I would not wish to dwell on this issue very much, as this is the proper area for my successor to consider, with his leadership. However, having said that, I would like to give a gentle reminder that SNAP is now at a threshold of important developments, and important possibilities. In its future strategic direction, it could turn inward, be an island and become a fish in a pond, so to speak. It could become a local “Jaguh Kampung” but it then would be subjected to the ridicule of national and international politics, without a national anchor or framework, to hold it steady.
Alternatively, SNAP could elect to play in the bigger theatre of politics, and be part of the truly national family. It could grow itself into an even bigger organization or seek alliances, that will help it find, a national network and audience.
I believe that to grow, the party must seek ways to elevate its role to the national level. There are a number of reasons in favour of this move. First, the country is now very much changed from what it was 49 years ago. Nowadays, Sarawak is very much part of the Malaysian federation and there are important communication networks, trade and political flows in place, that make Sarawak’s position in the country very significant. Second, the peninsular is no longer a strange place for us. Indeed, there are over a hundred thousand Sarawak and Sabah citizens, working in the peninsular right now.
And so I believe, that the time is right to make political adjustments to a party like SNAP, to allow its leaders to lead in the bigger political arena, so that they would be capable to bring greater relevance and benefits to its supporters. How, when, where and in what way these changes will take place is the task, I think, which should be properly placed in the hands of the next President of the party and his fellow leaders.
7. My wish. And so, Ladies and Gentlemen and honourable guests, I have come to the end of my speech. Also, with this long speech I have come to the end of my presidency. The speech has been purposely long, because it will be my last as SNAP President. Rest assured that I will not have the same privilege to bore you again. Ladies and gentlemen, before I sit down, I would like to take this opportunity to confirm my decision to call it a day to-day, as your President, as I want to give way to a new and younger SNAP leaders.
No one leader in any organization can make himself indispensable, as many others who are more capable, younger and stronger, wiser and popular may do a better job. Thus, wither the incumbent gracefully bows out or shamefully gets booted out or receiving an earlier heavenly call. For me, it is voluntary giving way as I consider it honourable and most pleasant and best thing to do for SNAP, the Party I love. I have taken this route, instead of allowing other people, to decide for me. I wish to say that I have served as well as I could, in the most trying moments that the party has had to endure. The party was deregistered by the ROS and was wished dead by some. It was, under my watch and with the help of so many loyal leaders that brought back the party to life. The party showed its mettle, grit and never say die attitude, by battling away for seats and votes in the last elections.
I know that the new leadership, under a new President, will continue the good tradition of the party, which is always struggled for Sarawak for Sarawakians.
Lastly, I thank the members of the party, the Central Executive Committee for the support they have shown over the years. I also thank my family, particularly my loving wife, for the understanding that they have shown me in the period that I have been President of SNAP.
In the course of our work, we have many moves and some, by the reckoning of our critics, may have been mistakes. If they were truly mistakes, I would like to apologise for them as I would also apologise for any other shortcomings that we have inadvertently committed. Please know however that in the pursuit of our work we always have the best interest of the party and the political community.
With that, once again I give thanks to our honourable guests for coming, for the delegates and observers for being here. And I wish the new President and his committee “Best wishes” in management of SNAP.
