Umno needs to ‘colonize’ Sarawak for continuity

Dayaks must wrest control of Sarawak if they are to change the course of their future.

COMMENT

By John Brian Anthony

Umno will not allow Chief Minister Taib Mahmud to be removed from his seat because Taib was and is prepared to play ball and fit into their plan to “colonize” Sarawak.

Peninsula Malaysia is running out of land and they need Sarawak. But it will be at the expense of the Dayak of Sarawak.

Peninsula Malaysia has exhausted its resources. There is not much oil and gas left.

Where can they get more? They get it from Sabah and Sarawak. Who has the biggest oil and gas companies in Malaysia? Scomi, Kencana and government-linked companies like the MISC, all of which are peninsular based.

Are there any Sarawakians leading the company or holding shares in such company? The answer: NO

Should we allow this to continue? The answer is no.

That’s why I decided to move towards DAP. I thought about this and the future of Sarawak.

Dayaks must acquire the meaning of their vote. Why do we vote? If we do not understand why we vote then we will lose the objective of voting.

In that way, our vote could be sold or bought by those parties with plenty of money to spent.

I am worried, that the minority in Sarawak will import their culture and believe system from places where they are a majority and hold the power. It is already happening now.

In Sarawak, Dayaks are a majority and as is the norm, majority must rule.

Minority rule in Sarawak

The Malay Muslim should be with us but following the practice of “majority” rule they must not play a dominant role in Sarawak.

As it is, the Malay Muslim (Taib) is leading Sarawak. The majority Dayaks and Chinese are led by a minority.

It is an odd situation. In Penang for example, Chinese rule the state. In Kelantan, Terengganu and other states in peninsular, Malays rule because they are the majority.

But in Sarawak the small minority rule the state.

If the Dayaks do not rule then their lands are not issued with titles, their children are deprived of opportunities to attend good schools and good jobs.

DAP is a highly regarded party with high integrity in the way they conduct of their politics.

DAP cannot ignore Dayak majority and therefor will have to give Dayaks their trust, repact and fair play.

With the 13th general election looming, both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional is preparing for the fight.

In the last outing (the state elections in April) there was an increase in Dayak votes for Pakatan. Statistics also showed a increase in support for the opposition.

To boost Muslim population, they isssued MyKads in Sabah and Sarawak to foreign workers and allowed them to vote for minority interest.

How about the sending over of more then 2,000 ustaz to rural Sarawak? This are all disturbing to me and it infringes on my rights and private space.

How can the minority do this?

Taib’s rule

The minority can do this because they can control the majority, as does the Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) which is the lead party in the Sarawak BN coalition .

It is no secret that PBB has enough seats to govern Sarawak on its own. Taib has put the Dayak PBB in his “pocket” and cut their tongue to silence them.

The Election Commission has made all the necessary state and parliamentary boundary adjustments to ensure that the Malay/Melanau boat provide the solid “fix deposit” for Sarawak.

So a broken Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and a split Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) are no threat to Taib’s position.

On top of that Party Rakyat Sarawak president James Masing is now eating from the hands of Taib.

PRS can be played by Taib as some of PRS MPs and DUN members are from PBB.

Keeping SUPP, SPDP and PRS weak will ensure PBB vis-a-vis Taib stays powerful.

The writer is a consultant who researches Dayak psychology and culture. He is also the chairman of Dayak Consultative Council.: