Sarawak Chinese unbowed by Taib’s threat

By Joe Fernandez

The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), in trouble with Chinese voters in particular since 2006, is being told that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) will be able to form the next state government even without a single seat contribution from it. This is the message going out to the party from Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud who has to call state polls by the middle of next year.

Taib’s message is based on the fact that SUPP will be allocated as usual only 19 of the 71 state seats at stake. The party lost eight seats at the last outing in 2006. The Bumiputera-based Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) will take the lion’s share at 35, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) nine and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) eight.

The politically naïve BN minus SUPP theory is somehow expected to bring the party (SUPP) and Chinese voters, in Taib’s reckoning, to their senses. The implication is that the Chinese would have no representation in the state government, for the first time since independence, if SUPP is rejected at the polls.

The fact that the Chinese are not in the least perturbed by such arguments is being overlooked as not politically expedient. The Chinese, and Taib, know that it’s only a matter of time before others follow in their footsteps especially from among the better educated Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and the Malays.

The repercussions will be there especially for the PBB which has a vice-like grip on Sarawak. Already, even the Iban – plagued by low literacy levels — are being threatened by PBB leaders “not to even think about deserting the ruling coalition”. It’s not surprising why no one in PBB thinks of threatening voters from the other better educated communities.

Chinese voters patently feel it’s pointless being represented in the state government if it means nothing for them in the end and the state, but only the ageing crop of self-serving leaders at the helm of SUPP and PBB. The younger leaders in SUPP are also up in arms against the lack of renewal, transition, change and reform within the party for many decades.

SUPP had a chance to renew its membership and leadership several times in the past to attract the younger Chinese in particular, but each time refused to do so. The unpopular George Chan, whose daughter is married to Taib’s son, continues to lead SUPP to its certain doom in an “all in the family” scenario.

The Chinese have also seen that they are losing out enormously, with Taib and his family, relatives and cronies having a finger in the economic pie everywhere in the state.

Ali Baba syndrome

Although they concede that they have been noted since the inception of the New Economic Policy (1970-1990) for the infamous Ali Baba syndrome – the Malay Ali selling government projects to the Chinese Baba for a quick commission – they worry that the corruption level in the state has now breached the stratosphere.

The economy, they point out rightly, is no longer about Ali Babaism which saw the Malay Ali getting anything between 5% and 15% commission for securing government projects for the Chinese business community (Baba). Instead, politicians in the ruling coalition are now awarding themselves, through nominees, government procurements and projects – under the guise of development – and selling them at twice, thrice or even up to 10 times what the Chinese Baba gets without paying out the usual 5% to 15% commission to the Malay Ali. The Chinese see this notorious “skim cepat kaya” (quick money scheme), fostered by PBB in general and Taib in particular, as being infinitely worse than any Ali Baba scam presided over in the past by SUPP.

The politically savvy and better educated urban Chinese voters know that government money is theirs as well, in fact most of it, and they are not going to allow the ruling coalition to continue to get away with raiding the public treasury at will.

There are many other social and economic issues confronting the Chinese community in Sarawak. However, the resolution of these issues hinges on the community subscribing to an agenda for change and reform in Sarawak after nearly half century of the same coalition in power. The immediate beneficiary, as in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia, is likely to be Lim Kit Siang of the DAP. He has undoubtedly emerged as the undisputed leader of the Chinese in Malaysia.

The bottomline is that BN’s long years in power, in particular Taib’s, has seen the emergence of a political structure and system which has allowed gross abuse of power and unfettered access to public money to the detriment of the state. The Chinese feel that enough is enough as evident from the continuing debate in cyberspace.

Unlike the Bumiputera, the Dayak in particular, the Chinese are on their own in the urban areas of Sarawak and feel free from the dependency syndrome hoisted on the rest of the electorate by BN’s long years in power.

If anything, Taib’s subtle threats have made the Chinese in Sarawak more defiant than ever and it will be anybody’s guess whether SUPP can even retain its Bidayuh and other Dayak seats. The hope is that the party will be able to retain Opar, Bengoh, Simanggang and Engkilili. However, according to most analysts, both Opar and Bengoh are among the Bidayuh seats where the party is vulnerable to a great extent.

Black or grey

The remaining 15 seats are considered either “black” or “grey” areas as the Chinese make up the majority. Black areas are where the Chinese form 70% or more and grey areas are those with higher non-Chinese voters.

The eight seats considered black are Pending, Padungan, Batu Lintang, Kota Sentosa, Meradong, Bukit Assek, Kidurong and Repok.

The seven grey seats are Batu Kawa, Bawang Assan, Palawan, Dudong, Piasau, Senadin and Pujut.

If SUPP ends up winning only a couple of Dayak seats, that will be the final nail in the coffin for the party to claim to represent not only the Chinese but the Dayak as well. The other parties in the Sarawak BN, that is, PRS and SPDP, besides PBB, will lay claim to SUPP’s Dayak seats. The Chinese seats could be easily divided between PRS and SPDP which are both ostensibly multiracial but Dayak-based, but it’s unlikely that Taib will allow it.

SUPP Youth chief Sih Hua Tong sees a ray of hope if the party identifies candidates which can win at least some seats for it to enjoy continued representation in the state Cabinet and government.

So, the question of changing the leadership cannot be entertained now, according to him, but at the triennial delegates conference which should be held by the end of next year.

Members and leaders chaffing for change in the party and voters have heard such talk before. -FMT