The Sarawak Elections

By Joe Fernandez

I spoke to Nicholas Bawin (pic above) earlier in KL. He just returned from London after raising human rights issues, among others, at the House of Commons and at the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.

I get the impression that I was speaking to a person living in a dreamworld of his own. He was upset when I told him that the white haired devil was going to win by default in the forthcoming S'wak elections because the opposition is not as organised as they should be -- Peninsular M'sia based parties are a no no in autonomy-sensitive M'sian B'neo -- and that Anwar is a person who cannot be trusted at all. Anwar, I told him, doesn't say what he means and doesn't mean what he says.

An example is the Sabah PKR line-up which Anwar endorsed in early Dec last year in writing and subsequently refused to announce except for Christina Liew being appointed the Deputy State Chief. Anwar actually thinks that PKR is his family business and that he can do what he likes with the party and that no one should tell him anything that he doesn't want to hear.

When I asked Bawin who the former PBDS members support, he refused to answer. The Ibans in the longhouses don't think for themselves and being tribal people only listen to their traditional chiefs. They provide the core of the solid support behind the white haired devil. They don't have access to the internet and don't read the blogs and the alternative media. They live in a little world of their own and only know what they are told which becomes even less after they have had one too many for the road. The fact that the white-haired devil is going to call for snap elections during the Harvest Festival season should tell us that the BN will win this election with plenty of free cheap moonshine, free wild boar meat and RM 50 notes.

Apparently, PKR S'wak has not received even one sen from KL although they submitted their budget proposals twice & even met Anwar about it.

People in S'wak obviously want change but there are no indications yet of a political tsunami -- for no rhyme or reason? -- & where's the alternative to the BN? It will be a miracle if the opposition wins the next state election in S’wak. Corruption is an issue but as long as people don't pay taxes, they won't feel it, and they will think that it is not their money anyway that is being stolen from right under their noses. And there are always people who think that they would like to do the same thing if they are in a position to do so. Besides, they are bogged down by the subsidies-driven dependency syndrome which fuels the politics of corruption and moral depravity in M'sia in general & in S'wak in particular.

Bawin became very discouraged when I explained why Hindraf & the Indians turned against PR. The Indians won't be returning to the BN either & this is something that he doesn't understand.

Anwar goes around saying that Hindraf is a racist organisation without realising that if not for the makkal sakthi (people power) wave unleashed by Hindraf in 2008, especially in the 67 Parliament seats in Peninsular Malaysia where Indian voters are present in significant numbers, PR would not have won five states and KL. This, it now appears, will be a flash in the pan since BN will win by default at the next General Elections unless a Third Force emerges in Sabah, S'wak & in Peninsular M'sia to steer between PR & BN.

Anwar is only interested in winning ten parliamentary seats each in Sabah & S'wak to form the Federal Gov't with what he has won so far in Peninsular M'sia and which he hopes to increase slightly. That's why he goes around rubbishing Hindraf and everybody in Sabah & S'wak and treats someone like Dr Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan as if he is not worth his time or his phone calls but continues to humour him anyway temporarily in the meantime for his own self-serving reasons and hidden agenda.

Peninsular M'sians refuse to understand that people in Sabah & S'wak are not cast in the MIC (Malay, Indian, Chinese) racist mindset and the racial polarisation that goes with it to turn the mainland into a cesspool of human relations.