Opposition makes selective acceptance of election results

Generally, the people see Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s decision to hold nationwide protests just like those being held at Kelana Jaya indoor stadium based on his allegation that the 13^th General election is fraud more as self-serving rather than anything else due to his failure to become the Prime Minister.

It was the view of the Police that the rally at Kelana Jaya was illegal as it did not follow the procedure to hold peaceful rally in a controlled area. For example, the Police only knew about it few hours before the rally though it is mandated that the period should be 10 days before the actual event.

Understandably, Anwar finds it difficult to accept the defeat with honor as he had been telling the foreign media, prior to the election, that he would be the next Prime Minister of Malaysia.  Interviewed by BBC after casting his votes at Pematang Pauh, he again claimed that he would be given the mandate to form the next government. Obviously, he had to look for excuses for his presumptuous and false prediction. 

But with due respect to him, he was not the only one.  Lim Kit Siang, DAP’s  supremo boasted, after visiting Kuching, Sibu and Miri in Sarawak and Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan in Sabah, where he received very good reception,  that Pakatan would form the next government after the 13^th General Election. 

Of course, he did not realise or he could be ignorant of the fact that Kuching, Sibu and Miri alone could not be Sarawak, nor could Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan alone be Sabah.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s decision to hold nationwide protest looks more awkward as Lim Guan Eng (DAP) was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Pulau Pinang and Datuk Ahmad Yakob (PAS) was sworn in as Menteri Besar Kelantan. Their appointments actually validated the election results.

Generally, the people concur with the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib, who considers that it is weird for Anwar to have accepted the election results at the state level but questions them at the Federal level.   It is only right that if they cannot accept some results, they should not accept them all.   The question is why accept the results at state level and question those at the Federal level; Anwar is making selective acceptance of election results.  

It is a fallacy to claims the electoral fraud based on the popular votes. It may be true that Pakatan has won more than 50% of the popular votes against Barisan Nasional,  46.8%. But our system is based on constituencies. It is like in America where the results are not based on the popular votes, it is based on the Electoral College.

People can still remember that President George Bush was elected for his first term in his office based on the majority of the electoral colleges and not popular votes. His rival then Vice President Al Gore got more than 1 million popular votes than him but less electoral colleges.  If Anwar wants popular votes then he should go for a presidential system. Ours is not a presidential system, it is based on the parliamentary constituencies.   

   

Apparently, urban voters had been desperate to be in Putrajaya that they were blinded to what the Barisan Nasional led government had done for them over the years.  Their obsession to be in control Malaysian political landscape had rendered them incapable of saying thank you for things being done for them. The rural folk still maintain this human decency and hence they don’t bite the hands them.  

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech to start work on the bridge at Nanga Dap in Baleh, Ulu Kapit, says the bridge to connect the road from Ulu Tatau to Nanga Merit in a remote and inaccessible area is by itself a very significant project. This kind of development may not take place in other countries but it can be carried out in Sarawak as the State government has a long –term plan for any major development project with the objective to move the people forward and improve their standard of living.

The State government has two reasons to build the road. Firstly, it will make the area more accessible with the development of the hydro dam.  The power to be generated by Bakun hydro dam will be insufficient to power the industrial development program. Therefore, the State government has to build two more dams, one in Ulu Baram and the other one at Baleh for the purpose.

Besides, the road, when completed, will be able to push development to more remote areas in the hinterlands in order to transform them from backward areas to become more modern and attractive place with the potential to attract young people with good education, knowledge and skills to stay and work in their own areas.   

The State government, with the support and co-operation of the Federal government has been able to build roads more than 28,000 KMs of R3 and R5 types of roads throughout its nooks and corners since Independence.  Besides, the state government has also been building access roads to most of the more than 5,000 settlements comprising of longhouses and traditional villages during the same period.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says with a good network of roads, the State has been able to open up more than 1 million hectares of land for oil palm estates in the overall efforts to increase the state’s wealth. The Barisan Nasional - led government has the vision in planning for the development in order to prepare the people to adapt to changes that will come out in the process.

He is happy that Sarawak, whatever the opposition say about it, has been able to accumulate sufficient expertise, knowledge and experience to undertake more sophisticated and challenging development in the transformation from the medium income to high income economy towards the year 2020 and beyond. 

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says Sarawak decided to join to form the Federation of Malaysia with the knowledge that it could share the bigger economy and it could request the Federal government for support and co-operation to build the economy.  For this reason, during the last 50 years, Sarawak has been able to push development to remote and isolated areas.

He believes the Barisan Nasional- led State government, with its track record of service in serving the people, State and country will be able to push further the socio – economic development of Sarawak to more remote and difficult areas in the near future.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the State government, through the recommendation of the Minister of Land Development, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr. James Masing, who is also the State Assemblyman for Baleh, has made a decision to open up Tunoh, which has a sizeable land to be opened up for oil palm estates and develop a new township in order to encourage active business activities in the area.

Hence, the State government has decided to build the road from Ulu Tatau to Tunoh, with a total length of 70Km, as it is convinced that the development of new township at Tunoh will be able to attract young people with good education and knowledge to work in the area.

Admittedly, the road is being constructed to an area with very small population though the State government builds this type of road to a place with at least 100,000 people living near the road sides. However, this can be justified with the development of hydro dam, which will be able to create more jobs for the local people at Baleh.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, who is also the Chairman of Barisan Nasional Sarawak, says it has been the practice of component parties, since the first generation of leaders, to introduce new candidates in any elections.  For example, Tan Sri Dr. James Masing, who has very high education, has been elected to represent remote rural areas through a proper program to groom young leaders to take over from old leaders.

He says in PBB, for example, he is the only first generation of leaders left in the party while Datuk Patinggi Jabu Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, Deputy Chief Minister, who was recruited to join Barisan in 1974, is the only one of the second generation of leaders left behind in the party.

The Barisan Nasional has the policy to groom people to take over from the older leaders, who should be obliged to support them as their successors and work as a team.  As Barisan Nasional has been in the government for a long time, it has been able to forge unity and co-operation among party members, civil servants and community leaders in order to become stronger in the efforts of development.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says in April 2011 State elections, PBB introduced 10 new faces to contest and win in the elections. As a consequence, all elected leaders in PBB have degree qualifications. All other component parties also want to see new leaders with good academic qualifications and experience as members to continue with development efforts to undertake bigger projects at an accelerated pace in future.

Undoubtedly, Sarawak has been able to ensure a healthy development of politics among the people, who comprise of diverse ethnic and religious groups. 

For example, a Malay leader does not help the Malay community only or the Iban leader, the Iban community only but we help all communities; so also with Chinese, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu leaders.   They help all people who are people of Sarawak and citizens of Malaysia.  For this reason, we have been able to undertake bigger and more sophisticated development.

Undoubtedly, Malaysia has successfully transformed the livelihood of the people from urban to rural areas through the continuous struggle from the first generation to the present generation of leaders to develop the state primarily to uplift the living standard of the people.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib recalls Sarawak could not spend RM100 million under the First Malaysia Plan. But under the 10MP, State is expected to spend more than RM18 billion for development. Now the per capita income is RM41,000. When Sarawak joined Malaysia in 1963, the per capita income was RM680 only. Indisputably, Malaysia has given a lot of benefits to the people as they celebrate its 50^th anniversary.

He believes Sarawak will be able to achieve the income of RM45,000, the international benchmark for a developed nation, by the year 2017.   In other words, Sarawak will become a developed state three years earlier than the national dateline of 2020. At one time Sarawak was among the three poorest states in the country.

Sarawak Monitor

May 15, 2013

New Straits Times

Opposition indulges in archive politics, out of touch with realities

By now the people should know that they have 101 reasons to vote against the opposition on Polling Day on May 5.  The opposition parties DAP, PKR and PAS have only one thing in common, which is their insatiable desire for power.  Other than that, they are still at logger heads with each other even on the basic thing like the common symbol and the theme to present themselves as a united front and the alternative to Barisan Nasional to the people. Any yet they have no hesitation to boast that they present better alternative to Barisan Nasional, which to them is an aging party and no longer relevant to Malaysia.

Even in the political campaigns they blame each other just to justify their own actions. For example, Hadi Awang claims to be putting the party’s candidates in constituencies that have been agreed to, to be contested by PKR, for reasons that the candidates are perceived to be unable to command the confidence of the people. Their characters are questionable as they are either drug pushers or communist indoctrinated individuals.

Of course, PAS is still having a long standing feud with DAP over the issue of Hudud, which the party believes that it is duty bound to implement if the loose front can command a simple majority to form the next government, but DAP will oppose it. Surprisingly, PKR, which has been trying to project itself as a multi-racial party, has been very silent on the issue.  

Obviously, they will need much more time to minimise their differences at the expense of serving the welfare and interest of the people.  In any case, the people cannot expect much from the Opposition, which apart from releasing the manifesto, has failed to come up with a concrete plan to push Malaysia, to push Sarawak to become a developed State in Malaysia by the year 2020 and beyond.

If anything to show what the Opposition-led government will do, assuming that the people will give them the mandate to form the next government, is to make more and more promises, based on DAP tagline of Ubah, Kerajaan Baru, Harapan Baru (Change, New Government, New Hopes)   just to give hopes to the people for their future.

Obviously, DAP is indulging in archive politics. It is out of touch with the realities on the ground. Now is well past the time for the people just to hope for better things in life. They have already experienced positive changes and achieved some success in life and they want to build on them.  DAP must come with a concrete plan how it can bring better socio economic progress to the people towards the year 2020 and beyond.

It is not enough to complain whatever the government has been doing is wrong and make more promises how it can further develop the economy of Sarawak without touching the lands being owned by natives or how it can bring the natives to be involved in the process of development without using their land?

Arguably, DAP has been experimenting with change though Sarawak has been experiencing tremendous changes during the past 30 years.  But DAP is still maintaining the archive leadership, structure and ideology. It is still being led by aging leaders like Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh and others.

Ironically, DAP is still propagating itself as a political party with Socialist ideology, but is it really?  What has the party done for the small people in Penang?  Its decision to forcibly remove residents of the traditional Indian settlement of Kpg. Buah Pala, in spite of its 2008 election promise to keep the people in the village, surely does not conform to this.

Generally, DAP-led State government in Pulau Pinang has not been serving the welfare and interests of the small people, who need, for example, low cost houses and opportunities for them to run businesses. The forced evictions of hawkers from their premises have been getting wide coverage by mainstream media.

Instead, the DAP –led government has been building luxurious condominiums and apartments, with unit costs ranging from ½ a million to 1 million. They are beyond the wildest dreams of small people to own them.    The small people need more and more units of low cost houses to be built for them. Obviously, their calls have fallen on deaf ears of leaders, whose party ideology is to champion the cause of small people.

DAP has pledged to continue, if it is returned to govern Pulau Pinang, with its plan to develop the undersea tunnel as the third link from the island to the mainland.  The costs have been fluctuating from RM4 billion to RM 6 billion and to RM8 billion.  Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng believes the cost to be RM6 billion and the differences have been blamed on typing errors even in the age of computer.

This is not the first time computer is being blamed for differences in figures. The most talked about mistakes being made by computers was, of course, how they wrongly tabulated results of the party elections last November.

What they say in Palau Pinang is Rakyat Mahu Rumah Murah Tapi Ketua Menteri Hanya Pikir Mahu Buat Projek Besar Besar ( the people need  more low cost houses but the Chief Minister only thinks of building giant projects like multi – billions undersea tunnel).  Generally, the people consider the undersea tunnel to be redundant as the second bridge will come into operation in the middle of next year.

Ironically, DAP was in the forefront in the campaign against the first Penang bridge, which it considered to be too costly, when it was first mooted by the then Prime Minister, Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed (now Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed). Then the party alleged that the country could not afford it and its implementation could lead the country into bankruptcy.

The Penang experience provides good examples that Lim Guan Eng, as a leader, does not walk the talk.  And yet, he still comes here to make all sorts of promises. The recent one being that he can build the highway from Sematan to Lundu in five years. Should the people trust him with such promises?  As usual he will disappear after the election and will only resurface for the by-elections or the State elections. 

Obviously, the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak, during the last four years has proven himself to be a leader, who can bring about better changes to the country. He will be able to continue with the development to transform Malaysia to become a country with high income economy towards the year 2020 and beyond.

After observing how the Prime Minister has been working during the last four years, nobody from the opposition can perform even half of what he can do. He deserves to be given a stronger mandate by the people in the current general election.

Unlike the opposition, the Barisan Nasional led government, is not talking in a very vague term about change.  It is making conscientious efforts to institute change in accordance with the achievable potentials and   what the people can enjoy as opportunities.

Admittedly, not all of what the government has done can satisfy the desire of the people; in any case, we can never get 100% of what we want. However, it has been doing the best of what it could do, no matter what the opposition says about it, in the service of the people and the country.

The opposition is very good in talking. Nobody can dispute the fact that the leader of the opposition is very eloquent in making political rhetoric. But how much of what he says can be trusted and how much of his words can be taken to mean something that can benefit the people in future.  The people should evaluate him properly.  

The leader of the opposition almost reached the pinnacle of power in the Federal government. During that time he could speak very well but did very little.  Hence, it is impossible to believe 100% of his promises. Now he has promised to give 20% oil royalty to Sarawak. It was good to the ears but the people should take it only as an entertainment.  

Another leader of the opposition from Pulau Pinang has promised that if the loose opposition front comes to power, it will build a highway from Sematan to Lawas in five years. The opposition- led government will have sufficient money for the purpose. 

But after giving 20% oil royalty to Sarawak, the opposition led Federal government will be left with 80% only and that means it will have much less money to spend.  If a person with less money to spend but he is still prepared to spend more, he will lead the country into bigger debts and eventually to bankruptcy in future.  This is the difference between the politics of talking big and making promises of the opposition and the politics of less talking but doing the work of Barisan Nasional.

The Opposition’s tagline of Ubah or change that have been erected in some parts of the city, obviously try to depict that the party is fighting to bring about change. Generally, the people know that Barisan Nasional, though it does do not talk much has been making conscientious efforts to transform the livelihood of the people and the situation in the country since Independence through the formation of Malaysia in 1963. It believes in action rather than words.

  

Sarawak Monitor

May 14, 2013

Sarawak Report is day dreaming

The evil people in Sarawak Report will soon know whether Barisan Nasional or PKR in Sarawak is in the state of panic.  For Clare and her colleagues, they are just day dreaming to believe that there will be a change in the government and their hero Anwar Ibrahim will become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia?

An overwhelming majority of the people believe, as sure as there is tomorrow, Barisan Nasional being led by Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak will be returned with a stronger mandate come May 5. Barisan Nasional in Sarawak will contribute  between 23 to 27 parliamentary seats towards the victory.

It may concede urban parliamentary constituencies like Kuching Bandar, Stampin, Sarikei, Sibu and Miri to DAP, a very chauvinistic party, based in Peninsular Malaysia. Both PKR and PAS will not win any seats; PAS, with its brand of politics, will be trounced in the elections.

Of course, an evil person sees everything evil in Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud, the Chief Minister in particular.  The Rolls Royce is the personal car of Abdul Taib, who bought it in the 70s.  He does not have other official cars.

Perhaps, Clare and her colleagues should decide to stay in some abandoned longhouses in Sarawak, those in Baram area in particular as it is the hotbed of foreign NGOs. For example, in most longhouses in Baram area, the occupancy rate is only about 48%. Most of the occupants have moved to towns to work or do business. Most of them, if not all of them, own modern houses in their places of work. They come back to the longhouses only for the annual Gawai Dayak or Christmas.

The foreign NGOs and writers like those in Sarawak Report are to blame for instigating the local people to fight against any forms of development being planned for Baram area in the names of fighting against land grabs, conserving environment, deforestations, human right abuses and other things perceived to be of values to Mat Sallehs, whose values are poles apart from the local ones.

For example, the local people consider it a taboo or rude and disrespectful to say the least to celebrate the death of a person. For example, some people in Brixton, Scotland and other places even toasted the death of Baroness Lady Margaret Thatcher or some ladies carrying babies standing on the queue just to turn their back on her hearse. What type of cultural values are these?      

True Jets and helicopters were at one time the symbols of prestige and wealth but for Sarawak and Sabah, which represent about ¾ of the country in terms of land surface, they are now bare necessities.  Sabah acquired the services of jets and helicopters first.

The jets and helicopters are being operated by the State government-owned company.  The jet is being used to fly State guests or the Yang di Pertua Negeri or the Chief Minister of Sarawak on rental basis.  Otherwise, how does the Chief Minister, who travels very frequently for official functions,  travel  from and to Kuching to places like Sibu, Miri,  Bintulu, Limbang, when Sarawak is still experiencing  irregular air services provided by commercial aircrafts.

The helicopters are being used by Ministers, Assistant Ministers and senior government officers for official duties in remote areas and Flying Doctor and mercy flight services. For example, they may go to Ulu Limbang, Ulu Baram and Belaga to counter the negative propaganda being spread by foreign NGOs and writers through clandestine radio. Or they may go to Katibas, Julau, Nanga Budu in Saratok, Lubok Antu and Padawan, just to name a few, for diverse official functions.  Again only evil person thinks evil of other people.

Of course, Sarawak Report, true to its trade mark of staking claims on the successful efforts of other people, is claiming that the State government, Abdul Taib in particular, is caving in to demands for higher salaries for headmen as promised by Baru Bian, head of PKR in Sarawak, to them.  It is a big joke.

The allowances of headmen in Sarawak are being revised upward following the implementation of the scheme of services, based on academic qualifications, for them in Semenanjung Malaysia.  Sarawak takes a bit of time to implement the scheme because of differences in the criteria.  

Most of the local headmen comprise of government pensioners, retired soldiers or policemen and grass root leaders, who do not have the necessary qualifications to be absorbed into the scheme.  The State government has to request for the exemption of the academic qualifications in order to absorb local headmen into the scheme. 

Baru Bian, with due respect to him, is being made bigger than his actual size by Sarawak Report and other PKR blogs, which it has many, but he does not have much influence on the political life in Sarawak, no need to say in Malaysia.  Sarawak Report will soon realise that it has been making wasted efforts to prop his and PKR images and significances in Sarawak to malign the State government, Abdul Taib in particular.  

Sarawak Monitor

April 25, 2013

Sarawak Report spins more lies in acts of desperation

Sarawak Report has made a another desperate attempt to show that Sarawak has been badly deforested, as it has been claiming all these while based on its very shallow and limited knowledge about Sarawak, to slant the Google satellite image of an area in Brunei next to Limbang and Lawas in Sarawak to compare the scale of deforestation in Sarawak.

Actually it is just like to say that London is a dirty and broken city just because Brixton is so or London is another Mumbai just because Brick Lane is full of Indian retail shop owners.  Sarawak Report has used the same image in its previous postings.  

Sarawak started to cut matured trees in the 50s during the British Colonial Administration. However, since the mid- 70, upon the recommendation of FAO and in the midst 80s upon the recommendation of International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO),  it has been practising selective logging; it cuts  seven matured trees to one hectare of forest land in areas that have been gazette as permanent forests.  The practice has enabled the log areas to be revisited after a circle of 25 years.

Of course, Sarawak Report, which has no respect for the truth, only thinks that it knows about Sarawak. The writer is a liar, a pretender and Sarawak Report, an opposition blog, only disseminates lies and all lies about Sarawak.

Obviously, it is getting more desperate by the day to discredit Sarawak, the leadership of the Chief Minister of Sarawak in particular, for PKR, the paymaster. To claim that the Chief Minister only prefers easy questions just goes to show that the writer is a liar.

She is trying to convince the readers that she has very good knowledge about Abdul Taib. She doesn’t. She will never have the opportunity to know Abdul Taib because of her extreme hatred for him. The feeling is, of course, mutual.  Ironically, the writer appeared in the video clip of Global witness sampling some local food with scenery in Baram as the backdrop.  Had she really been there?

For the people, who know Abdul Taib, they know that in spite of his age, he is still very alert and still having grasp of things. The people in Sarawak will not allow Abdul Taib to debate with Global Witness even if he wants to.

They will not allow him to go down very low to do so. They say the credibility of Global Witness, as a fair and an impartial NGO, is increasingly questionable. There are a lot of people who want to debate with Global Witness first.

In any case, there are many local NGOs who can debate with Global Witness, which has been getting its information from Sarawak Report. To the people in Sarawak or Malaysia for that matter, Global Witness is an extension of Sarawak Report, to malign Sarawak. Obviously, Global Witness has become big headed to claim that a senior politician like Abdul Taib takes it seriously. Really?

5% ??

The satellite image being slanted by Sarawak Report is on areas on both sides of the Sarawak/Brunei border.  The forested area is Tamburong, a small area in Brunei, sandwiched between Limbang and Lawas.  Of course, Brunei can keep all its trees as its main source of revenue is oil.  Brunei, an oil rich Sultanate, does not need to cut trees as it can get all the revenue that it needs from oil. The Brunei Sultanate is one of the richest nations on earth. Why should it log a small area like Tamburong for extra revenue?

Sarawak does not need its land surface to be covered by forests. Suffice for it to keep more than five million hectares as permanent forest areas. Besides, it has got a number of National Parks, animal Sanctuaries, numerous playgrounds and catchment areas as totally protected areas.

The State has cleared more than 1 million hectares of Land, mainly secondary jungles, most of them have been cleared by people for traditional farming or the slash and burn type of farming by natives, for oil palm estates. Why make this an issue. Sarawak, like England 200 years ago, has to exploit its natural resources to develop the economy. It is being done in a more planned manner after learning the lesson from developed countries in Europe.

The image that has been slanted by Sarawak Report to fit its story of excessive logging that even an area being proposed for national park is being clear-felled for oils palm. It is a big lie, nothing but big lies. Surely, Sarawak Report will not disclose the site because the picture has been taken at random. Who is Sarawak Report trying to bluff?   

Of course, for areas cleared for oil palm estates, small trees have to be cut down. They are being processed to meet the need of local industries.

Clearly, Sarawak Report thinks everything evil about Sarawak. The lies that it has been making against Sarawak have no influence among the people in Sarawak. The results of the 13^th General Election will certainly show the effect or the lack of it  on the people.

But Sarawak as a developing state, should not allow itself to be maligned by Mat Salleh, who have no business and credibility to do so. They are silent on the massive loggings in Kedah and Kelantan and excessive dredging of sands in Selangor though they are very destructive to the environment. But why are Sarawak Report and Global Witness silent on them?   

Sarawak Monitor

April 24, 2013

Opposition’s Ubah will disrupt development in Sarawak

The general election is the time for the people to think very seriously about their own future and the overall future of the state and country; other things are not that serious. Our own fate and future are not something that we can gamble with.

For example, if the opposition succeeds to Ubah the Government at Putrajaya, it will have very adverse effects on the overall development of the State.  The immediate thing that DAP has threatened to do is to scrap the development of SCORE, regardless of the amount of investments, known to be running into billions, that have been put in there.

It will simply mean replacing the politics of development, which has been proven to be successful in transforming Sarawak from one of the under - developed states in the 70s  to one of the top three fastest developing states in the country now, with the politics of dissensions, deceptions and chaos of the opposition.

The unruly politics of the Opposition, with the inclinations to make complaints only, is alien to Sarawak and will not help the people.  Instead, it will only satisfy and fulfil the agenda of certain people, who have the insatiable desire to gain power. This is not the kind of politics that can solve problems of the people and help them to improve their livelihood. 

The politics of arguing, quarrelling and condemning leaders in the government have destroyed a number of states and countries as they tend to quarrel and create issues that divide the people.  The politicians tend to show off their so-called courage and gut to speak up to criticise and condemn the policies and leaders of the government. They only consider themselves right and others all wrong.  They only know how to complain but make no efforts to help the people and the state.  

The battle cry of the Opposition is Ubah or change Barisan Nasional - led government  with the opposition at the Federal and State levels, which the leaders  allege to be inefficient and corrupt; what ever the Barisan Nasional does is wrong. But the opposition is being led by a person, who had the opportunity to serve for a long time in the government holding various ministerial portfolios but did nothing for the people and the country.  The people must ask what his legacies were.

For example, the leader of the Opposition was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance when the country was hit by the financial crisis in 1997/1998. His decision then was to hand over the problems to the World Bank.   However, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, then still the Prime Minister, refused to let the economy to be looked after by foreigners, who could actually destroy rather than save it.

Now some members of the oppositions are engaging foreigners to criticize and condemn the State and the country, to malign the leaders with all sorts of negative propaganda.  Generally, the foreigners are either very ignorant or very shallow in their knowledge about the local situation. For example, they have been making unfounded allegations that Sarawak has no more forests left when in fact about 70 of its land surface is still being covered by forests.

The foreigners boast that they are right and transparent and say everything that the government has been doing is wrong and not transparent. For this reason, it is incumbent upon the people to study their behaviours and ask them for their contributions towards the development and progress of the State all these while.    The answer is none at all.

Generally, members of the opposition are very good in talking but cannot show proof of their successful efforts in the services of the people and country.  In this respect, people must ask what can be considered as the legacies of Anwar Ibrahim, who had the opportunity to become the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on top of other portfolios that he had held while in the government? A leader should leave something in terms of things that he had built or positive changes that he had instituted while in office.

Ironically, DAP is being led by Lim Kit Siang, who is in his 70s, Karpal Singh, also in his 70s and on a wheelchair, with due respect to him,  and Nik Aziz, the Mentri Besar of Kelantan,  now 83 and very fragile. Does the Ubah campaign include them? No. The opposition is practising not just double but multiple standards. The line of campaign is change the government at Putrajaya and all those in other states except Kelantan: Kekal Kelantan (or Retain Kelantan).

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during the earth breaking ceremony of People’s Housing Scheme at Permyjaya in Miri, says the 13^th General election will determine whether the policy of Barisan Nasional - led Government that has been proven to be successful in the development of the people and country, can be continued or be replaced with the politics of dissension, condemning and quarrelling of the Opposition.

The politics of the opposition, with the inclinations of leaders and members to quarrel among them and create issues that divide the people has destroyed a number of states and countries. They tend to show off their so-called courage and gut to speak up to criticise and condemn the policies and leaders of the government. They only consider themselves right and others all wrong.  They only know how to complain but make no efforts to help the people and the state. 

It is Abdul Taib’s view that the people and the state cannot afford the opposition’s brand of politics as it tends to absorb people into political rhetoric that do not give any benefits to them. Instead, the people, who have been experiencing the politics of development that has transformed their livelihood, hope to have more opportunities to further build on their successes.  

They realise that they must be involved in the development of the economy in order to be become more successful so that even poor people can work together to improve their livelihood. Admittedly, the people who have knowledge and experience can further improve their incomes and become more prosperous and progressive in their life. 

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the people get their shares of development benefits based on their own capability as salaries are normally made based on their knowledge and skills.  Other people, for example, will not be able to help those who do not make any efforts to improve their knowledge and skills.

However, the government cannot allow those who are not clever, due to many reasons and not entirely their faults, to be lagged behind.  They must be given opportunities to acquire skills so that they can do jobs that can pay them well to improve themselves.  They must have opportunities to use their energies to become more successful in future.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, who is also the Chairman of Barisan Nasional Sarawak and President of PBB, says the government remains committed to continue with the development of the country, the state in particular to enable the people to improve their livelihood from time to time.

He saw the immediate necessity to plan and implement the development programs that could improve the situation in Sarawak immediately after he assumed the helm of the State government. Sarawak must be saved from lagging further behind other states in the country.  Back in the 70s, Sarawak was either in the third or fourth places from the bottom as one the most backward states in the country.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the State government, with the support and co-operation of the Federal government, has been implementing very consistent and well planned development policies that what ever it does today can benefit the people more and more in future.  All development policies that have been implemented provide the foundation for the kind of politics that subscribe to the National economic policy.

He assures that Barisan Nasional remains committed to continue with the development of the country, of the state to enable the people to improve their standard of living  from time to time. It will fulfil all its promises if re-elected by the people as Barisan Nasional only makes promises that it can fulfil.

Undoubtedly, Barisan Nasional with its brand of politics consensus and compromise   has successfully built and brought about remarkable changes to Sarawak in a transformation from a backward state before Merdeka to become a more progressive and successful one now.  Unavoidably, Barisan Nasional has to face many obstacles in the diverse efforts to ensure that Sarawak will undergo continuous development with the politic of development.

A good example of this transformation is Miri, once a quiet town with a population of 120,000 in 1981 has bypassed Sibu to become the second largest town, with the population of more than 350, 000, in the State now;  the population has increased by more than four times.  Obviously, local leaders have been working very hard to implement the development policy that can benefit the people and the city.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib believes Sarawak will become more prosperous and successful, if the people make the right decisions to retain the Barisan Nasional - led government under the leadedrship of Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who has shown himself to be sincere and willing to help Sarawak. 

For example, Sarawak got the additional allocation of RM4.2 billion during the last three years on top of all the projects that had been approved under the 10^th MP.   Initially, the Federal Government approved an allocation of RM14 billion under the 10^th Malaysia Plan. With the additional allocation the total now is RM18.2 billion. Besides the State government will increase its commitment to RM14 billion to accelerate the pace of development under the politics of development towards the year 2020 and beyond.

He believes that an overwhelmingly majority of the people will use their wisdom and farsightedness to vote for leaders who have tracks record of services and reject those who have none but talk only.  They must ensure that all projects, the big ones in particular, which are now in various stages of development, to be continued uninterrupted for benefits of the people and the country.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib calls of the people give to the Prime Minister their full support so that he can have a strong mandate to lead the next government.  In this connection, Sarawak must secure at least 27 seats out of the 31 seats to be contested in order to give him a strong mandate to fulfil all his promises as contained in the manifesto of Barisan Nasional for the 13^th General election.  Then the people can look forward to a brighter future ahead of them. 

Sarawak Monitor

April 23, 2013

1Malaysia movement promotes sense of belonging among Rakyat

Sarawak is celebrating 50 years of statehood in Malaysia, a stable, progressive and highly respectable nation in this part of the world. Even the President of USA Barak Hussein Obama finds he can do business with the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak in promoting Islamic moderation in the world.

Generally, Malaysia under his leadership gets the attention of the world as a few countries in this region doing well economically, socially and politically.  The country has been having a healthy economic growth of more than 5% during the last few years. This year, the projected growth is 5.3%/

There is a stronger sense of belonging to the country among the people of diverse racial and religious groups in the country with the movement of 1Malaysia being propagated by Dato Seri Mohd Najib with the concept and slogan of 1Malaysia.  Now it has become a very popular brand with almost everything 1Malaysia.

Dato Seri Mohd.Najib has often said Sarawak is a good example of where the concept of 1Malaysia truly works. The people comprising of about 30 ethnic and religious groups can live in peace and harmony with each other for centuries. Even in urban areas where the people tend to be more individualistic and indifferent towards things surrounding them, they still have goodwill for each other.

Undoubtedly, Sarawak has been doing very well during the last 50 years economically, socially and politically.  The per capita income has risen from RM680 in 1963 to RM40,000 now. It has been able to reduce poverty rate from about 75% in 1963 to about 5% now after the revision of the poverty line index (PLI) from RM500 to RM800; otherwise it could only be 1%.

It has been able to construct about 27,000KMs of road from 1,600 KMs of substandard roads in the 60s, to form a good network of infrastructural connectivity throughout the state.  Now more coastal and remote areas in the hinterlands of the state are being connected by roads. This has enabled Sarawak to open up more than 1 million hectares of land for oil palm estates, though it has no history of estate development.

Generally, Sarawak, with a total land surface of 12.4 million ha or roughly same size as Peninsular Malaysia, has long coastlines with the land mostly soft and soggy and rugged hinterlands with hills and mountains, being dissected by numerous big rivers and sharp ravines.  It is reputed to be the most difficult state to develop. But it has been undergoing tremendous changes through a transformation from an under-developed state to become one of the fastest developing states in the country; from the bottom three to the first top three.

But the opposition, which is generally bankrupt of good ideas based on their performances during sittings of the State Legislative Assembly, takes spot shots on the government by criticising that Sarawak is still far behind in terms of socio – economic development. Apart from its size, Sarawak started development six years behind Peninsular Malaysia. 

In fact, the development in Peninsular served as the motivating factor for Sarawak to join the new federation of Malaysia in 1963. The people wanted the same development being carried in Semenanjung Malaysia to be carried out in Sarawak. Both DAP and PKR have been making a lot of noises that Sarawak still does not have a highway and generally has low quality of roads.   

But both parties are Peninsular-based political parties with good representation in Parliament. If they are really concerned about Sarawak not having a highway and high quality roads, why have they not been shouting to the top of their voices in Parliament to request for necessary funds for the purpose; why have they not been shouting at the Federal government to build highway and good roads in Sarawak?

Obviously, they are shouting in Sarawak just to play to the ears of the people and to score political points by discrediting the government; little do they know that the development of highways and urban roads is the responsibility of the Federal Government.  Even then the State government has spending billions from its coffer to develop parts of the roads in order to extend development to the people.       

PKR, through it numerous blogs, has been complaining that Sarawak is still underdeveloped. The party owes answers to the people about Anwar Ibrahim’s legacy in Sarawak. What did he do in Sarawak as the Minister of Education, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister?  PKR, as the most active user of the Internet to criticise and condemn the State government, is also privileged to get advanced information from Sarawak Report, which has been quoting the party as sources of its information to malign Sarawak.

Interestingly, Sarawak Report has often been quoted by Global Witness as its credible source of information. Recently, Sarawak Report considered itself vindicated by the video tape being produced by Global Witness to implicate the Chief Minister in a land deal.  But fingers were quickly pointed to Sarawak Report as the accomplice, with the intention to discredit the Chief Minister before the General election.

Surprisingly, reporters, most of whom have never visited Kuching, in Kuala Lumpur try to show that they are clever and courageous, by pushing the Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, to such an extent of ambushing him during an important event to launch the Manifesto of Barisan Nasional, for his comment on the video tape.

Worse, reporters from two national tabloids put words into his mouth for his purported comments about MACC’s decision to start the investigation on the allegations being made in the video tape. Clearly the reporters were either confused or as just being naughty to put words into somebody’s mouth.

For the people, including experienced reporters, who know Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, such comments can never come from him. As a lawyer, with long years of public service, he cannot be careless to make such comments.  It is just not his habit and nature to comment on the roles and functions of any organisations, not within his area of responsibility.

Of course, like any responsible people, it is his view that the video clip does not deserve his comment as it naughty and very dishonest. The producers have no sense of fair play and no respect for the truth and justice.  Now PKR, which is the sole beneficiary of the video clip, is boasting that it will be producing thousands of copies of the video clip for distribution as campaign materials to people in rural areas.

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during a meet the people session at Daro, says   Barisan Nasional will continue to make conscientious efforts to preserve the unity and solidarity of the people as the main crux of the struggle in the service of the people and country. The leadership and the approaches of the common struggle may change but the objective remains the same.

In this regard, his party PBB considers the unity and solidarity of Bumiputras comprising of Malays, Melanaus, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus and others as paramount and will make continuous efforts to strengthen it to ensure that PBB, which provides the backbone of Barisan Nasional Sarawak, remains strong.

He hopes the Chinese will come together again after the General elections and work together with Bumiputras in order to become stronger and more resolute in carrying out better planning and development for Sarawak towards the year 2020 and beyond. 

There may be changes in ways to implement the policy but the objective remains the same.  The unity and solidarity among the various ethnic and religious groups must be preserved as a guarantee to sustain a more comfortable way of life for the people.  This must remains the crux of the common struggle with the theme “People First Performance a Priority” in the service of the people and the country.

Generally, as the people get more exposed to outside influences through the internet and visiting politicians, they must make conscientious efforts to strengthen their unity and solidarity in order to become more united in the common pursuit for betterment of their livelihood.

The people from outside do not understand local politics, which emphasise on understanding, unity and prosperity of the various ethnic and religious groups in Sarawak.  For example, some of the visiting politicians have been making baseless allegations that local Christians are being discriminated against by those in authority in their attempts to break the people apart.

 Of course, it is impossible for such things to happen considering that the Christians are almost equal in numbers with members of other religious groups. The different religious groups, which have been living together in peace and harmony for hundreds of years,   never quarrel among them.  They all realise they will lose if they quarrel and break up. 

Eventually, they may stand up to tell outsiders that they never quarrel over religions, languages and other things. Their form of politics grows through the process of unity and solidarity among them. They live together and respect each other’s ethnic origin and religion. 

Generally, they reject the politics of condemnation and destruction being propagated by PKR, DAP and PAS in the campaigns for the elections.  The politics of condemnation and spinning stories to instigate the people to quarrel are detrimental to their unity and the future of the state and country.

They are convinced that nobody from outside, with their kind of politics, can continue with efforts to preserve their unity and solidarity and continue with the common struggle to maintain peace and stability in Sarawak for the next 50 years. 

Sarawak Monitor

April 15, 2013