Sarawak Politics, Economics and Philosophy

Politics is about power.

The current political fight in Sarawak is about the struggle for power. Whether it is the Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, both are now trying to convince the voters why they should vote for them and not the other group. So, what is the difference between the politics in Sarawak, and the politics elsewhere?

Ethnic Politics

Between the politics in Sarawak and those in the Peninsular, the current arrangements on both sides of the water are similar – racial political parties conveniently come together to form groups, each with a multi-racial front. In Sarawak, on the BN national front, there is PBB which is supposed to represent the Bumiputra which is odd because you also get in it other Dayak groups such as PRS and SPDP which are Bumiputra as well, in addition to SUPP which is generally taken to be predominantly Chinese. On the other Pakatan front, Keadilan is supposed to be a front runner but in reality DAP is the stronger and both are Peninsular-based parties. Appended to them is SNAP which is taken to have a Dayak dominance.

What you are now witnessing in Sarawak today, as well as in Peninsular, is racial politics at its best. You have grievances even among the Bumiputra where, in the Peninsular, the gripe is UNMO-putra, whereas in Sarawak the culprit is the one and only and his cohorts. Both probably come straight out of a leaf of the NEP. The Chinese and everybody else then see themselves as orphans in an unloved disorganised family with a greedy and roving-eyed father.

In Sarawak, the opposition talks of the dilemma of ungrateful urban Chinese juxtaposed against the poverty-stricken rural natives or indigenous people, when the reality may simply be the everyday fight for survival, against poverty or fear of not having enough. There is poverty in the urban areas as well as in the rural. Remember that when the rural people come to town, they become the urban poor. In towns, when the parents did well, the NEP makes sure that they do not have new opportunities.

It is a terrible thing when an affirmative policy such as the NEP has become a racist policy that is used to deprive the majority for the benefit of a few. It is equally unacceptable for the alternative to champion the interests of the now-deprived Bumiputra or non-Bumiputra to the exclusion of Bumiputra. It is this racism in Malaysian politics as well as in Sarawak that is objectionable to rational-minded citizens of this country. For this reason, thereby, the contention is that the current battlelines are drawn at the wrong points by the opposition; it could be the result of the early stages of political development in Malaysia as well as Sarawak.

A World going Plasma/Pixels

In all countries everywhere and for all people in all countries, the greatest concern is economic survival with eyes being opened wide as a result of the internet where the whole world is collapsed into a picture frame made of plasma or pixels. We know of everything we want to know, and while we marvel at technology, we fear for ourselves and our children.

Massive Budget Deficits and Inflation

In such a world of great anxiety, there is a demand for reassurances and governments around the world guarantee it by printing money and getting into massive budget deficits. With massive budget deficits come inflation, now on a global scale, which means that it hits also the poor little indigenous people or the non-indigenous people on the wrong or better side of Borneo. Their home-grown output, be it the processing of local foods or the processing of local materials into tourist items called handicraft, however much they produce and sell is inadequate for them to enjoy a piece of the advances of modern technology as the terms of trade is wrack-smacked against them, thanks no doubt to the multi-award multi-year winning central bank that we have in keeping this country economically competitive while the people deprived.

Need for a More Level Playing Field

Under trying localised circumstances, there is nothing but humanity for allcitizens of Malaysia, and some say Sarawak, to argue for a level playing field economically at the very least for everybody, be that somebody a Muslim or non-Muslim, Bumiputra or non-Bumiputra. It is time we do away with racism of any guise.

In Sarawak, the two oldest multi-racial parties are the SUPP and SNAP, and their full names say so: the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party and the Sarawak National Party. Fill these two parties with well-educated, well-intentioned young and energetic people of all races – if they can work well in other countries and survived, they can do likewise in Sarawak. Let them fight on the economic ground: between big businesses and the welfare of the people.

A New Self-Sustaining and Wholesome Sarawakian Economy

There is much can has to be done to re-position Sarawak which for now, in economic policy terms, is nothing but an adjunct to Peninsular-centric economic (and political) policies. There is a need to refocus on Sarawak as an wholesome and self-sustaining unit rather than merely a supplier of energy to the Peninsular either in the form of oil and gas or hydroelectric power. There must be a way to retain these natural resources for use locally.

We find the current political fight in Sarawak on fundamental issues, though not for want of theatrics by masters in their defined fields. But the outcome on 16 April could be devastation of one kind or another. - Din Merican