Taib looking for most auspicious time

By Keruah Usit

Many pundits have begun offering predictions on when the Sarawak state elections will be held, and what the outcome will be.

The timing of the polls is at the whim of the chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud . The time allowed for the campaign is brief, and diminishes with every election.

Campaigning in vast rural constituencies is grueling. Boats and four-wheel-drive vehicles are scarce, and helicopters serve only the ruling coalition. This means the incumbent BN enjoys an enormous edge over the Pakatan Rakyat.

In mature democracies, polls are conducted at fixed intervals, as in the United States. In Britain or most other European nations, the electorate would punish any incumbent political party or coalition that calls for snap polls in the hope of an unfair advantage over the opposition, for cheating voters of their democratic rights.

The uncertainty regarding the timing of the election produces endless speculation, just as our local suppression of news breeds rumours.

“I can’t decide yet. Do you know how difficult it is to decide the election date? When you want to choose for a wedding date, it is difficult. That is one person but I have to do with two million people,” Taib lamented.

Taib’s reference to choosing an auspicious date, as for a wedding, has triggered some knowing smiles, since the chief minister is said to be highly superstitious.

Holding the upper hand

The incumbent wields near-absolute power over the local newspapers and the civil service, including the bureaucracy’s transportation resources, the ‘information’ agencies and the security forces. The logistical nightmare confronting Pakatan campaigners will not keep BN campaign managers awake at night.

In the peninsula, the political influence exerted by RTM is limited: many have given up listening to the news bulletins, given that most instalments begin with the tediously predictable “The prime minister said today…”

If politics is the art of the possible, then Malaysian politics is the dark art of the plausible lie.

In Sarawak, rural areas are served mostly by pro-BN RTM or Astro, or illegal Indonesian transmissions via a“parabola” or large satellite dish.

Many families in longhouses receive no newspapers. They often gather to listen to the RTM or TV3 primetime evening news at the end of a working day on the farm.

Even so, Internet news sources have accomplished remarkable success in feeding news-starved Sarawakians and Sabahans. There is little doubt that Malaysiakini played a crucial role in the surprising victory by the DAP and Pakatan in the Sibu by-election last May.

Yet much remains to be done, since household internet access in Sarawak and Sabah remains at 19.3 percent and 17.1 percent respectively, far lower than the national average of 37 percent .

Perhaps Malaysiakini could show the way, and continue its role as a trailblazer. For example, if enough readers request that Malaysiakiniallow Sarawakians and Sabahans to access all articles relating to the two states for free, for a limited time, this might contribute towards breaking down the dam of the flow of information, and might even eventually draw new subscribers.

At present, access to Malaysiakini articles in Malay are free, but there are significantly more articles in English.

Spreading the news from urban hubs with internet access to rural communities remains a herculean task. Pakatan parties are trying to bridge the digital divide, by distributing party news leaflets to rural Sarawakian communities.

These contain, for instance, discussions on the ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Malay-speaking Christian natives, and detailed allegations of corruption, such as those found on the anti-Taib website Sarawak Report.

But the harsh terrain and poor party networks in rural Sarawak are major stumbling blocks.

The influence of Big Timber

The BN also enjoys the support of local fiefdoms run by the logging and plantation companies. These companies carry many rural people to vote in isolated polling centres. The logging vehicles fly BN flags, and are clearly partisan.

It is intriguing to note that timber tycoons played a role in Taib’s near downfall in 1987, when they hedged their bets by funding Taib’s opponents in Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) and Permas, an opposition party established by Taib’s uncle and predecessor as chief minister, Abdul Rahman Ya’kub (right). However, Taib survived this scare and consolidated power, saved by the Chinese voting bloc.

Taib has now dismantled the PBDS and reconciled with his uncle. He has overseen systematic gerrymandering that heavily favours poor rural seats over urban seats such as Sibu.

Taib now feels confident his Dayak, Malay and Melanau support base can defeat the Pakatan, even if the Chinese vote is unfavourable. He has even publicly warned that he can govern solely with “Bumi seats”, and that the Chinese will be left behind if they do not vote for him.

The allegiance of wealthy timber tycoons now appears firmly with Taib: they may still want to bet on both sides, but DAP candidates and PKR leaders like Baru Bian would be far less compliant than PBDS was.

Election outcome

Pakayan supporters in the peninsula hope for Sarawak and Sabah to swing their support behind Pakatan’s push towards Putrajaya. But it remains essential that Pakatan’s promises of 20 percent of oil royalties (as opposed to the 5 percent currently received by these two states, among the poorest in Malaysia) and native customary rights (NCR) delineation and registration, are seen as credible.

To win confidence, Sarawak Pakatan must convince dispossessed native voters that their land rights will be restored, in the same manner that Selangor’s Pakatan government wonover the Orang Asli, as Colin Nicholas described in his absorbing account.

Like the Orang Asli, Sarawak Dayak natives have been harassed over their defence of land rights, by the police and government agencies.

Many Dayak have shown courage and persistence. But they need to see there is hope and justiceat the end of their struggles at the timber blockades and in the courts, as Sagong Tasi and the Temuan

If a new Sarawak government can reverse the corporate theft of NCR land, polling day will mark a sea change indeed.

If Pakatan can deliver on 20 percent oil royalties and rein in endemic corruption, Sarawakians will benefit from better wealth distribution, education, and eventually, political awareness.

One day, we might even look forward to a political movement restricting the number of terms of any chief minister to a maximum of two.

If, on the other hand, politicians and timber tycoons continue the asset stripping and capital flight that has gone on for nearly four decades, then little will change on the ground.

It is difficult to predict the results of the upcoming Sarawak elections. Most pundits think BN will remain in government while losing its two-thirds majority in the state assembly – an outcome that would still send a powerful message to Sabah and the peninsula, ahead of the 13th general election.

But the prospect of any change in Sarawak, and even the uncertainty that comes with it, is more appealing than the grinding poverty and despondency borne by so many Sarawakians today.

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist – ‘anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia’. This weekly column is an effort to provide a voice for marginalised Malaysians. Keruah Usit can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com.

courtesy of Hornbill Unleashed