GST, 1MDB also 'local issues', Sarawakians told ahead of polls

S'WAK POLLS For the past two days, DAP leaders appear to be unifying their campaign narrative to attacking the relationship between Sarawak BN government and its federal counterpart.

As the opposition component prepped its campaign machinery, party leaders took the chance to publicly criticise the state BN.

They said Sarawak lawmakers are equally culpable for raising living costs by allowing the GST to pass through the BN-controlled Parliament in 2013.

Opposition leaders also said that the state BN must share the blame for the financial scandals surrounding 1MDB.

"Malaysia has become very, very infamous. Total corruption. Fifty-seven years under the same BN government," DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang told crowds in Bau and Batu Kawah last night. The two Chinese-majority towns are located near Kuching.

"Five prime ministers, but never before had we seen a financial scandal that spans the globe, except under (prime minister) Najib Razak," he said.

State BN leaders have said they had nothing to do with the 1MDB scandal.

On Wednesday, Adenan had challenged the opposition to stick to ‘local issues’.

“I dare the Opposition parties, especially DAP. Don’t drag national issues into Sarawak. Fight me and my team on local issues. Don’t use national issues like 1MDB to attack Sarawak Barisan,” he was quoted saying in The Borneo Post.

GST also local issue

The state government has also said that the GST, implemented last April, is a national issue.

Christina Chew, who is defending her DAP seat in Batu Kawah, has been tying local grievances about rising costs and a dampened local economy to the one-year-old service tax.

Abdul Aziz Isa, DAP's lone Malay candidate who will be contesting in Stakan, said GST does not spare anyone, including fellow Sarawakians.

"The tax is unavoidable, whether you are old or young. If you are handicapped, you have to pay the GST.

“From the cradle to the grave, from the child who has to wear diapers, to the coffin that has to be bought. We are all made to pay for it," he told voters in Batu Kawah.

Along with discontent with the GST, opposition leaders have also been attempting to translate public disbelief at the magnitude of the 1MDB scandal and its RM42 billion debt, into support at the polls.

"A good government alleviates living costs. This government has burdened its citizens with taxes to pay for its mistakes and corrupt practices. We reject this," said Wong King Wei, the DAP incumbent for Padungan, a constituency within Kuching.

The opposition admitted the popularity of state BN chief Adenan Satem, who is also chief minister.

Last week, polling group Merdeka Centre published the results of a survey it carried out in January, where Adenan was found to have 81 percent approval rating among Sarawakians.

Adenan himself has urged voters to overlook unfavourable BN candidates' faults by riding on his popularity.

"Adenan has said that if you don't like the face of the BN candidate, just think of him. (However) we cannot accept this type of logic.

“If any of the SUPP (Sarawak United People's Party) candidates win or lose, it won't matter because Adenan would still be chief minister," Lim told voters. -Mkini