Sarawak will be having their 12th State Elections soon. There are 82 State seats in Sarawak. The big number of State seats is possibly because Sarawak is very large, about the size of Peninsula Malaysia. (Plus 31 Parliamentary seats which are not part of the polling). The population is almost 3.0 million people. Sarawak is a truly great State. It has tremendous natural beauty and is inhabited by very beautiful people.
I was in Sarawak for their 10th State Elections in March 2011. The State polls were held on 16th March but "we" were there on 11th March, 2011. I recall the date because it was the night of the terrible Sendai earthquake and the tsunami that hit Japan that night. We stayed at the Four Seasons in Kuching and I was watching the tsunami story in the room.
A group of us bloggers were flown there on a private jet, most likely paid for with some of "that" money (my apologies, that story would not break until 2015). We went to Kuching to meet the Chief Minister, meet other people in Sarawak and basically help the BN win the State (it was another era ok). I was sort of leading the group because at that time I was president of a bloggers outfit.
We met the Chief Minister at that really impressive State Secretariat building. We were invited for dinner but it was past 10 PM before he made it to our meeting. There was a long table and the few of us bunched up close to the Chief Minister, with me sitting right beside him. The Chief Minister was formal at the beginning but he soon relaxed amidst the quite "mixed up cacophony" of us bloggers from KL. One long haired and whiskered like a pirate, token minorities, including me the mamak "president" - a good mixed up bunch. We were not the usual Press. Just a bunch of bloggers but with a combined, very impressive readership and I must say "influence" on the local social media scene.
I will skip what we spoke about except that despite all that has been said, the Chief Minister was extremely popular. And like all of them are - he was extremely polite and impeccably well mannered. Then we had dinner - which is what this story is about. They served us the usual stuff : meats, veges, rice which was nice and tasty.
But the Chief Minister had his special food laid out in front of him. There were two fairly large fish - I think they were freshwater fish - served specially for him. Rather dainty fish set before the King. I asked him and he told me he did not eat any meat other than fish.
He ate very little. We were happily talking and eating. Then I reached out and helped myself to some of the Chief Minister's fish. There was no way he could eat all the fish, so why not try some. I was sitting inches away from him and I noticed his facial expression change ever so slightly. He was not too happy that I had taken some of his fish. Oh well. I chuckled (silently) to myself and I think I did take a second helping as well. Ha ha.
Well there are other people in Sarawak who have different views about their State. Here is a lady called Priscilla Lau, 52 years old and a lawyer from Sibu. She and FOUR other women (some very young) from the Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) are vying for the State seats around Sibu.
What I notice first is that Priscilla and her four friends are obviously Chinese. In Sibu she will be going against the DAP as well - which also has a solid Chinese identity in Sarawak. Meaning that even among the Chinese in Sarawak there is a diversity of politics. Which is very good for a democracy. The more views there are the better. It makes for a better democracy.
I do hope that the situation will change such that Priscilla Lau does not feel the need to take Sarawak out of Malaysia. (If they do, I am sure Sarawak will have a really cool passport, with hornbills and stuff).
I hope Priscilla Lau and her friends can articulate what is it that they dislike and what they would like to see not just for Sarawak but for the entire country. Do not underestimate the power of words, especially good words.
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