Sarawak – a state of independents

By Maclean Patrick

COMMENT It cannot be faulted if we all agree that it is human nature for people to group together within familiar circles. We see this in family units, communities, villages, towns, cities, states, countries and (the obvious) political entities.

It’s a comforting effect – to be able to huddle together in a tight unit either for warmth or security. A habit born from prehistoric times since the days the human species branched out to populate the world.

Human beings are herding creatures, much like the rest of nature.

And as Sarawak approaches its state election, we are presented with a tantalising option: which herd will we join?

Direct membership is nothing new to the Barisan Nasional (BN). Yet there should be a caveat as proposed by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing.

“Direct BN membership should not be a sanctuary for party dissidents or rejects of any BN component party. If BN accepts those characters, it will create a destabilising precedence and open the floodgates for unruly personalities to come in,” he told a local daily.

Rightly so, we do not want to go against Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection. Bad genes in the herd gene-pool would only spell doom for the herd at large. Leave out the dissidents or rejects and all is fine. And BN will be stronger and better, more able to lead the state of Sarawak.

Pakatan Rakyat is not fairing any better, with the Batu Sapi PKR branch calling for Zaid Ibrahim’s sacking before his Dec 16 resignation. Another call in line with many, these past few weeks, for Zaid to be punished. Cull the herd of these dangerous characters, less the herd at large strays from its migration to Putrajaya.

Vote for independents

Darwin would give two thumbs-up and a big toe to these turn of events because it validates his findings with finches (a small bird) in the Galapagos Islands.

But let’s be honest here. Leave the herds to themselves and ponder for a little while. What does Sarawak have to gain from all these political drama?

Either herd presents its own set of evils, and no matter how much you stomp about, asserting your proposed dominance in the savannah, it is just going to be a mere show of hooves and dust and grunts.

To which, many are suggesting that come the next election, vote for the independents. Make Sarawak a state of independents.

Why not? We do have a right to nominate and vote a candidate of our choice.

Allow me to digress a little and take us back to the basic idea of democracy, all the way to the rule of the Etruscan who came up with the idea of the citizen vote.

Not much is mentioned about the Etruscans, for which we can thank the Romans for wiping out much of the historical records of the Etruscans.

Yet we owe the Etruscans for the birth of Western civilisation and democracy itself. For the Romans did not invent the ideas of democracy; they took the ideas of the Etruscans and created a working model for all of us to copy.

The Etruscans had a form of monarchy-democratic system in place. There was a king yet the people could vote in representatives to sit in a council of sorts.

When the Romans overthrew the Etruscans, they kept the voting and representative system but created a dual leadership system to replace the monarchy, so that no one person had absolute rule over Rome.

The dual leaders both ruled for a set period and made decisions collectively. So no one person exerted total control over government.

The early democratic system was put in place so neither person nor entity had total rule over government.

Fast forward a few hundred years, and we find the Sarawak democratic system much like the early Etruscan system.

We have leaders who believe they are monarchs and the vote of the people is reason enough to lord over the land for as long as they want. And come state election, the people of the land are forced to pick sides because our vote keeps these parties in power.

Lone straggler

There is no place for the herd mentality, so prevalent in today’s politics, in a democratic-ruled nation.

Whatever BN or PKR decides, in order to boost their membership or strengthen their herds, the lay person has to think as an individual and decide for themselves; what action would best serve them and their communities.

Even if it means, not voting at all for any herd but to trust the lone independent straggler.

There is talk that come the next election, many would come forward to stand as independents (against Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his herd).

A unlikely solution but one that seems more in line to the fundamental idea of what a democratic system is like – the people’s right to vote for anyone they deem right to lead and represent themselves and their community.

Maclean Patrick is a webmaster based in Sarawak. FMT