All eyes on BN and the extent of electoral fraud on Sarawak polling day

There's talk in Sarawak that there will be a political tsunami on April 16, the polling date for the 10th Sarawak state elections. All eyes are now on how Prime Minister Najib Razak will 'handle' the situation.

That his administration will resort to plain old-fashioned cheating when the crunch comes is a already given, his political opponents say.

But to what extent will the BN government seal their infamy is now the top subject of conversation at homes and offices through the state and the rest of the nation.

Given that Najib has often steam-rolled over criticism including from international observers, there is concern that he will not only pull out all the stops but may even drag the country off the cliff with ill-advised bravado so as to keep his cohorts in power.

"This is what we fear the most. When foreign observers chastised his government for encouraging racism and religious bigotry, he never once showed repentance. Instead, his office immediately threatened to bar the people who dared to criticise him from ever entering country," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"We are dealing with an arrogance and a desperation that is out of control. In a way, all we need to do is to stand aside and let Najib spin himself out of political relevance. But what we are worried about is the long-term damage he may do to the image of the country and the negative effects his politicking will have on the psyche of our youth."

Among those who have recently chided the Najib administration for stoking racial and religious tensions to stay in power is John Malott, who wrote about the issue in an article entitled The Price of Malaysia's Racism.

The 4 pillars to BN's electoral success stories

According to campaigners from both sides of the divide, Najib is now in a desperate position. His hopes of being seen and hailed as the BN's savior against the Pakatan's red-hot onslaught on Chief Minister Taib Mahmiud have been dashed.

Najib has been outfoxed and even publicly snubbed by the wily 74-year old Taib. Then, his refusal to take the Malay-language Bible issue seriously and his over-reliance on showy public relations to paper over the serious cracks between the Christians in the state and his federal government has also boomeranged badly.

"If BN did not cheat, the Opposition would have won the previous general election on 8th March 2008," PAS information chief Ustaz Idris Ahmad told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Hanky-panky is already going on in Sarawak and for months already. Cash is already being handed out to the longhouse chieftains. Of course, we can smell all their tricks, we have been watching them for years and there are basically 4 things the BN always rersorts to when they need to win. It is just that for Sarawak 2011, there is this huge anticipation that Najib will pull the carpet out from under himself. The pressure on him is tremendous, much more than Taib."

According to Idris, the four BN 'standards' for cheating are:

1. Postal voting where only BN party workers are allowed to enter into the army camps to observe the voting process.

2. Using foreign workers to cast votes. Pakatan campaigners in Sarawak have noticed busloads of foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar wearing 'Undilah BN' T-shirts being ferried about. These foreign workers will be given temporary identity cards, with the National Registration Department roped in to help in the scam.

3. Ballot boxes from interior areas will also be substituted while on the way to the counting centre via helicopters or boats. Ustaz Idris said Pakatan campaign workers would not be allowed to accompany the ballot boxes although BN personnel will be allowed to do so.

According to the PAS leader, this is why as high as 100 per cent of the voters in most of the remote villages are perceived to have voted for the BN, when in reality, the ballot boxes had either been substituted, dropped into the rivers or thrown into the jungle.

4. Registered voters will also be enticed with the few hundred ringgit here and there to lend their MyKad (identity cards) to BN party workers who will then vote on their behalf. This, of course, has to be done in collaboration with Election Commission workers, who will close an eye on the physcial dissimilarities between the party worker and the photo on the Mykad.