Now is the best chance to topple BN in Sarawak, says Pakatan

An upset and historic win for the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat is not being ruled out in the coming Sarawak state election expected to be held very soon, says outspoken PKR state assemblyperson for Padungan Dominique Ng Kim Ho yesterday.

"The coming election is the best time for the opposition to topple the Barisan Nasional which has been in power for a long time, and I sincerely believe that the Pakatan will be able to grab this once-in-a-life opportunity," he said when speaking to reporters at his Chinese New Year open house.

"We are very excited about a great change to come as there have been a lot of undercurrents, disappointments and dissatisfactions among the ordinary people," he said.

Ng said further that BN had never felt seriously threatened before by strong and united Opposition parties .

"Now, the people are fed-up with the BN because it has been around far too long. It also has lost touch with the ordinary people."

Ng lamented Sarawak was the richest state in Malaysia in terms of natural resources while its people were among the poorest.

"It is going to get worse rather than better if BN and Taib continue to be in power," he said.

The Dayaks are key

Ng (pic) said the nearest that the Opposition came to toppling the BN was in the 1987 election when the Dayaks, led by the defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), rebelled against the Taib Mahmud administration.

"The move to topple the Barisan Nasional did not succeed because the Chinese and the Malays did not join the Dayaks then," he said, adding that the Chinese and the Malays at that time were still loyal to the BN and Taib.

“This time, however, more and more Chinese and Malays are joining the Opposition against Taib, but the Dayaks seem to be moving a bit slow," he added.

He believed that the BN could be ousted from power if the majority of the Dayaks switched to the Opposition.

"The Dayaks are a crucial factor in this coming election, and I sincerely believe that Pakatan can attract the Dayaks to our side," he said.

Ng said the recent revival and re-branding of the Sarawak National Party (Snap) played an important role to attract the Dayaks into Pakatan.

"As an important component of Pakatan, I believe SNAP, with its long history, still has a large number of supporters among the grassroots in the rural areas," he said, adding that the Snap's revival was a plus factor for Pakatan.

He said Snap was facing a lot of difficulties in the past, but now the party was in a better footing with more people coming forward to be its members and supporters.

Ng also said he did not foresee any problems for the Pakatan component parties - DAP, Snap, PKR and PAS - to work out together and come up with a winning formula, although each party had their own platform.

No interest in PKR's probelms

He said Pakatan has to work extra hard and to come up with better strategies to win the coming election.

"The BN, despite the differences and problems we think they have, are still a formidable force. Let us not forget that. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that everything will come our way. We have to work for it and it will not come naturally," he said.

Ng said he does not believe that the internal problems faced by PKR in Peninsular Malaysia would affect Pakatan's performance in the Sarawak election.

“The people are more concerned about solutions to the problems created by BN in Sarawak rather than the internal problems of PKR," he said.

He blamed Taib's “politics of development” as one of the root causes of the problems in Sarawak.

He said the concept only benefitted the elite few and cronies, while the vast majority have been sidelined and marginalised in terms of business opportunities.

Ng asserted that SUPP would face the full brunt of the people's unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the "politics of development concept" because they believed that it did not benefit them. - Malaysia Chronicle