A promise is just like a bait – once hooked, it will be very difficult to break away. For those who were hooked, they would feel frustrated, broken-hearted and betrayed when promises made by those who they trusted to protect their interests were broken.
To quote the United States’ 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, “We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.”
Political promises are such promises made by political parties which come in the form of party manifestos. Political party manifestos outline their promises to their members what they would do for them if they win the elections.
PRS’ current dilemma makes one wonder, whether the party has broken its promises to its constituents. It reminds me of an English proverb by Richard Paul Evan, who equated broken promises to broken vows: “Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves.”
Is this why its constituents begin to disassociate themselves from the party and join other parties such as PDP, SUPP, PBB, new PBDS and the last one, PSB? PRS has left a trail of broken promises in its path, at least, that is what I can sense from the ground.
I think the party’s top leadership needs to go to the ground more frequently to ensure that the chosen wakil rakyat has done an excellent job of delivering on the party’s promises. Because when your wakil rakyat failed to deliver – for whatever reason – the rakyat will blame the top political leadership for the failures.
So, once you break those promises, you broke the trust of the rakyat. Therefore, any new party that wishes to stay relevant should think carefully before making your promises.
Make sure those promises you pledged to achieve, are doable and modest. Don’t set your goals or promises too high; believe me, those who are hanging on to your every promise, would be shattered if you fail to deliver on those promises.
Look at the Pakatan Harapan government’s promises. Not only did it fail to deliver on most of those promises, but it also admitted that it didn’t think it through when it drafted the coalition’s manifestoes prior to the 2018 general election.
The promises were made to win elections!
Nothing more, nothing less!
They didn’t even think that they would win.
Therefore, promises were made to attract the voters to support their party, whether they can deliver or not, it is another issue altogether!
Don’t aim too high, be modest and make sure you can deliver on those promises within the promised time. People who believe in you would hold on to your promises dearly. Once you broke your promises, it will be very difficult to convince your constituents to continue supporting your ‘agendas’, whatever they may be.
Let us look at PRS. When it first contested in the state election of 2006, it managed to garner eight out of nine seats contested. It continued to perform well in the 2011 and 2016 state elections respectively, when it managed to win all 11 seats contested in 2016.
PRS also did well in its first general election, which was conducted in 2008, where it managed to win all the six seats contested, which is quite an impressive performance for a new party which was only five years old then.
However, in the 2018 general election, PRS performed badly, when it only managed to secure only three out of six seats it contested.
What went wrong?
Poor performance in the last general election can be attributed to the last minute political manoeuvring by the top party leadership – less than a day – before the candidates’ nomination was announced.
Just hours before the candidates’ nomination was announced, the party had unanimously decided to expel two of its top leaders from the party, thus removing them automatically as potential candidates to represent the party in the election. They are none other than, Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun (Selangau incumbent) and Datuk William Nyalau Badak (Lubok Antu incumbent).
Removing them last minute was not the party’s worst move yet. Its leaders made, yet, another surprising move when they put two fresh faces to replace the two incumbents. These newcomers were not the choice of the grassroots, although they have been going to the ground months before the expulsion of Entulu and Nyalau.
This resulted in the resignation of Entulu and Nyallau’s supporters from PRS. Their supporters resigned from the party as a protest for what they perceived as injustice treatment towards their leaders.
This last minute political manoeuvring proved to be fatal to the party. Had PRS removed these so-called ‘belligerence’ leaders, through a proper mechanism as outlined in the party’s constitution, the catastrophic event that followed could have been avoided much earlier.
The party’s constitution clearly outlined a proper way to expel any of its members from the party if the party has strong evidence – which the PRS claimed they did – to corroborate the party’s action.
Why didn’t the leaders remove them then, if they had enough evidence to do so?
As a result, PRS has lost three out six seats contested. With the latest move made by Datuk Masir Kujat, the MP for Sri Aman, PRS is now down to two seats which are Hulu Rajang and Kanowit, both under Datuk Wilson Ugak and Datuk Aaron Dagang respectively.
At the state level, PRS has 11 seats but if the current situation can be used as an indicator for what is to come, PRS must gear up for the challenges ahead.
Anything can happen between now and then.
So, to all political parties in Sarawak, please revisit your party manifestoes and start working on delivering on all those promises which your party have pledged in the previous election if you want to win the coming election.
A lot is at stake here, especially now, that Sarawak is an opposition party, albeit PH-friendly at the federal level. And as for PSB, be meticulous in drafting your party manifesto because claiming oneself as a multiracial party does not guarantee the people’s support.
Winning elections is no longer about keeping promises and having the ability to deliver on those promises, it is also about proving to Sarawakians, that GPS (and the new GPS-friendly party) is a better party for them, and not merely a new party with the same old attitudes or mindset of doing things.
People demand accountability, transparency and equality in terms of distribution of development projects.
Mind you, there are a lot of skeptics out there who are waiting to see you if you are as genuine as you claimed to be. As a Sarawakian myself, I strongly believe that Sarawakians deserve the best from their leaders!
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
