MUST READ Sarawak Polls : Bapa Merdeka Tunku Abdul Rahman Engineered 'Ouster' Of Stephen Kalong Ningkan, First Chief Minister Of Sarawak

 Yesterday our chicken sh_t MPs in Parliament passed the MA63 Bill which gives Sarawak and Sabah more autonomy.  Considering that the Sarawak State Elections are just THREE days away (18/12/2021) it is obvious that the chicken sh_t MPs are afraid of losing the Sarawak elections.

Indeed Sarawak goes to the State polls in three days - on 18th December 2021. Vote wisely and vote for your future. 

I wanted to say something earlier about Sarawak but some things came up. Maybe some history of Sarawak's Chief Ministers and some demographics are apt at this point in time.  

Most Malaysians, especially those on the Semenanjung, will not know that the first Chief Minister of Sarawak was a Dayak / Chinese politician by the name of Stephen Kalong Ningkan. 

Since 1963, Sarawak has only had SIX Chief Ministers todate. Why so few? 

Well because Pehin Sri Taib Mahmud was the Chief Minister for 33 years (1981 - 2014)! 

Here is the full list of Sarawak's Chief Ministers. Please note the dates carefully (for Stephen Kalong Ningkan and Tawi Sli):

1. Stephen Kalong Ningkan (1920–1997), SNAP party. Served 22/7/1963 to 16/6/1966

2. Tawi Sli (1912–1987), PESAKA. Served 16/6/1966 to 7/9/1966

3. Stephen Kalong Ningkan, SNAP. Served 7/9/1966 to 23/9/1966

4. Tawi Sli, PESAKA. Served 23/9/1966 to 7/7/1970

5. Abdul Rahman Ya'kub (1928–2015), (BUMIPUTERA). Served 7/7/1970 to 26/3/ 1981

6. Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (b. 1936) Served 26/3/1981 to 28/2/2014

7. Adenan Satem (1944–2017). Served 28/2/2014 to 11/1/2017

8. Abang Johari Abang Abdul Rahman (b. 1950), Served from 13/1/2017 till now.

You can see that there was some tug-of-war going on between Stephen Kalong Ningkan (the 1st and 3rd CM) and Tawi Sli (the 2nd and 4th CM).

Both Stephen Kalong Ningkan and Tawi Sli were Dayaks who were Christians. Tawi Sli was trained as a Christian pastor. They were the last non-Muslim Chief Ministers of Sarawak. 

Stephen Kalong Ningkan who was very popular in Sarawak was totally disliked by the Prime Minister at that time our Bapa Merdeka Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. 

The Tunku disliked Stephen Ningkan to such an extent that the Tunku declared a state of Emergency in Sarawak (in 1966) which removed Stephen Kalong Ningkan from continuing as the Chief Minister. 

Sarawak Emergency (1966) :  Kuala Lumpur put Sarawak in a state of emergency on Sept 14, 1966, in a bid to remove Stephen Kalong Ningkan as chief minister. When the Council Negri was convened on Sept 23, 1966, a vote of no-confidence was passed and Kalong Ningkan was removed as chief minister.

'a state of Emergency' - folks does this sound familiar? It was nothing more than playing dirty politics by your favourite Prime Minister Bapa Merdeka aka Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. Ha ha ha. They are all the same. 

Considering that until today about 75% of the Sarawak population is non-Muslim (majority Christian Dayak) it is perhaps time that democracy played a bigger role in the State. If democracy plays a larger role in Sarawak then there will not be a need for Sarawakians to want to declare their independence. 

In 1966 Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra was in favour of Tawi Sli - a Dayak and a trained Christian pastor - to become the Chief Minister of Sarawak. It is a historical fact that Dayak Christians have been Chief Ministers of Sarawak. 

GPS, the incumbent and pro-BN party, is fielding candidates in all 82 seats. At least 54 of their 82 candidates are non Muslim (65%).  

Anyway here is a quick video about Stephen Kalong Ningkan 

Here are some quick facts about the Sarawak State polls. 

A total of 349 candidates are vying for the 82 state seats in the upcoming Sarawak state elections.   

A total of 1,252,014 people are eligible to vote in the election with early voting starting on December 14 (yesterday). 

There are 82 seats in the state assembly, with 42 needed to form a simple majority.

GPS has 18 MPs in Parliament (the 5th largest after DAP, UMNO, PKR, Bersatu).

The GPS coalition, which comprises PBB, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and People's Development Party (PDP) was formed in 2018.

The GPS is fielding  : PBB 47 (candidates), SUPP (18) PRS (11), PDP (6).

The Pakatan Harapan is fielding DAP (26 candidates), PKR (28), Amanah (8).

Sarawak's pro-Independence Parti Bumi Kenyalang or PBK is fielding 73 candidates.

PSB is fielding 70 candidates. 

This time around PBK and PSB are parties to be watched. It has been reported that PSB is funded by Sarawak's timber tycoons and should not be taken lightly.

PBK also has good funding available, considering that they are able to contest in 73 seats. Last time around (2016) they did not perform as well. But now the pro-Independence platform has taken a life of its own in Sarawak. So if the PBK has a better outing in these State polls, it means that Sarawak will be on their way towards Independence sometime in the future. 

Here are the results of Sarawk's last State polls in 2016:

These charts are from The Star (thank you). The following chart is very interesting. It shows the racial majority in the State seats in Sarawak.

The Melanau are the majority in 28 seats in Sarawak (34% of seats). 

The Ibans form the majority in 22 seats.

Bidayuh are majority in 7 seats.

Orang Ulu are majority in 5 seats.

(Iban + Bidayuh + Orang Ulu = 34 Dayak seats or 41%)

Chinese are majority in 15 seats (18% of seats)

Mixed seats are 5 only (five).

Now here is the population demographics of Sarawak's almost 3.0 million people.

The Dayak people (Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu) make up 63.3% of the Sarawak population. But they are "majority" in only 34 State seats (41%). Something is not right here. 

Also the Dayaks are divided (the tried and proven "divide and rule") into Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu etc. 

On the other hand the Melanau / Melayu make up 8.5% of the population but they are the majority in 28 State seats (34%).  

It has long been the case that Sarawak politics is dominated by the Melanau folks. Chief Ministers Abdul Rahman Yaakub and his nephew Pehin Sri Taib Mahmud were both Melanau.  Other politicians like Nancy Shukri and Norwawi Effendy are also Melanau.

Chinese make up 13.4% of the population in Sarawak but they are the majority in 15 State seats (18%). 

So both the Melanaus and the Chinese are punching above their population ratios in Sarawak.

What is my view? My view is the Dayak people need a saviour. They need a true leader. 

The Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu must unite.

Agi idup agi ngelaban.

My conclusion :  Whether as part of Malaysia or as an independent state, things are not going to change much in Sarawak for sometime yet. 

Sila ambil maklum.  

The views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.