Why should anyone believe Taib Mahmud and BN?

If as Taib claims, BN has brought progress to the state, why did Taib have to hide like a common criminal?

COMMENT

This week, Sarawak’s Chief Minister Taib Mahmud promised to make Sarawak the richest state in Malaysia by 2020, by guaranteeing the “people’s rights over their land” and by developing the country.

Taib said: “We were very poor and suffered decades ago, but now a lot of us are living well. (The BN government) managed to bring down the poverty level from 40 percent 30 years ago to 5.3% now. This is a very important achievement by the BN which is our main struggle in Sarawak”.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, echoed these sentiments but warned the Chinese that if they failed to vote wisely, they would risk losing representation in the state government.

“The important thing is to maintain political stability and cooperation between federal and state government, so that… development will hasten in Sarawak,” said Najib on why it would benefit the Chinese.

After three decades of misrule by Taib, why should the ordinary Sarawakian believe him?

Sarawak is Malaysia’s richest state with abundant natural resources in the form of its hydrocarbon reserves, its timber, its mineral wealth, its land and the most important commodity, its people.

Ever since Sarawak ‘entered’ Malaysia, 47 years ago, around 70 percent of the longhouse dwellers still lack treated water and a 24-hour supply of electricity, whilst more than 50 percent of them can still be considered, hardcore poor.

When Taib said “….now a lot of us are living well….” he was referring to himself, his family and his cronies.

Taib has milked the country dry to make him amongst the richest men in the world, with a business empire spanning at least eight nations in four continents.

He lives in a palatial mansion on the banks of the Sarawak river, has the use of two Rolls Royce – one for personal use, the other for official purposes, and can criss-cross the country with helicopters and planes from Hornbill airways, at his disposal.

Unlike Taib, the poor indigenous folk have been plucked from their ancestral heartlands because of Taib’s mad scheme to build the Bakun and other mega-dams.

In collusion with Putrajaya

These people have had to swop a superior way of living in longhouses that were once made of belian and be camped in depressing settlements made of cheap plywood.

With logging and oil palm industries, their sources of clean water are contaminated and despite promises of a modern lifestyle, the indigenous folk have no access to cheap electricity.

In the rural areas, there is a shocking lack of adequate infrastructure despite oil being pumped out of the ground for over a hundred years, timber being logged throughout the ages, minerals being mined or jungle produce being harvested for trade.

So what did Taib do with all that money? And why should we believe him now?

With the collusion of Putrajaya, much of Sarawak’s wealth is used to fund Umno/BN’s megalomaniac projects like the PKFZ and the purchase of submarines, all of which are racked with corruption and misappropriation of funds.

The average rural Sarawakain is probably unaware that Taib diverts funds meant for other areas to SCORE, his current pet project which will make him more monies through his proxy companies.

The Ibans have lost their NCR lands to companies. They used to plant padi, cash crops and fruit trees. They received their protein from the jungle.

When their lands were taken from them, the Ibans were like fish without water.

They migrated to towns and cities which were already under much strain. The Ibans lacked skills and found it difficult to adjust to urban living. They drifted into all sorts of social problems like vice activities, prostitution, alcoholism, robbery, drugs and drug-related problems.

Taib’s mismanagement changed a once-proud people into labourers who are forced to survive on RM10 a day.

When Taib Mahmud is overseas, he likes to be in the spotlight of international fame. Last August, our First Lady Rosmah Mansor and Taib promoted the Islamic Fashion Festival (IFF), in Monaco on the French Riviera.

When two longhouses burnt in Long Kajang and Long Luar, two timber giants donated RM900 to the Penans.

At this glittering IFF gala, the dinner raised RM706,000 for the Prince Albert II Foundation of Monaco and a further RM 420,000 was donated.

Hiding like a common criminal

After the IFF dinner, several hundred thousand ringgits worth of fireworks were lit in a few minutes.

Over in Kapit division, the Penans whose longhouses were razed said state help was difficult to organise and deliver. The Penans escaped with only the clothes they were wearing.

Taib may try and woo the Europeans with his wealth but Malaysians will one day catch up with him.

In July 2010, Taib was in the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, to promote his SCORE project.

A group of Malaysians and other nationalities were ready to receive him to voice their concerns about the destruction of the rainforest and his corrupt rule.

Taib did not have the courage to face the protesters. He sneaked into the building by hiding on the floor of a service van and entered through the kitchen.

If as Taib claims, BN has brought progress to the state and that under his rule, Sarawak is a much better place than three decades ago, why did Taib have to hide like a common criminal?

Mariam Mokhtar, a petroleum chemist and an environmental pollution-control scientist, is a columnist with FMT.