The election fever is gripping the nation once again, though not so much in Sarawak yet in anticipation of the 14th General Election (GE14), the Parliamentary election for Sarawak. But the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Tun Openg has already given a clear message to the local people that the future of Sarawak is in the hands of local based component parties of Barisan Nasional namely PBB, PRS, SUPP and PDP and BN friendly party like United People Party.
At this stage of development, the people should only support the party with good track record of service to the people, State and country, which is none other than Barisan Nasional. The opposition parties namely DAP and PKR have very poor records of services to Sarawak. Their performance can best be described as talk only no action. And yet the people, the urban people in particular still give them their votes in the elections either in the State or Parliamentary elections.
For example, the party’s Members of the State Legislative Assembly would attend the sitting of the Assembly to play to the gallery either to shout to be heard or walk out of the assembly to be seen. The urban voters, who voted them into the Assembly to earn the title of “Honourable” and earn good salaries, should be critical of their performances.
The choice of government in the general elections is a very serious thing. Some say it’s the question of life and death. Once the leader of the opposition, Anwar Ibrahim said losing is not the option. When he spoke during the opposition’s much touted rally the Peoples’ Rally at Stadium Merdeka, he threatened, in the event the opposition should lose in the 13th General Election, to turn Padang Merdeka to become Tareq Square of Egypt.
Regrettably, some people would still gamble with the opposition. For example, the outcomes of the previous elections in certain urban constituencies in Kuching and Sibu were determined by gambling, personal dissatisfaction and grudges and other petty considerations. Some people fall preys to promises, which the oppositions were very good at making.
The opposition dares to promise the moon, stars or even the galaxy to the people. For example, DAP promised to develop the dual carriage highway from Sematan right to Lawas in less than five years while the old PKR under Ketua Umum Anwar Ibrahim promised to give a 20% oil loyalty and restore all the 20-point agreement or terms and conditions for Sarawak to join the formation of Malaysia.
Generally the people must ask has PKR/DAP government fulfilled all its promises as a welfare Government in Selangor or DAP been keeping up to its pledge of CATS or clean, efficient and transparent Government in Penang. What about the controversy surrounding the undersea tunnel from the island to Butterworth in the mainland and the current Ijok land grab issue in Selangor? These are just a few.
Abang Johari, whose fundamental principal of economic development is to strengthen its foundation and improve the wellbeing of the local communities for a more balanced development has already set up a Development bank and Oil and gas company and the development of digital economy to push Sarawak from a developing to a developed State by the year 2030.
The State’s future direction of development under his leadership will be the Digital Economy, oil and gas sector, urban transport system, rural infrastructure, private healthcare, modern farming and renewable energy.
He is passionate about Digital Economy with the belief that it is one of the best ways for Sarawak to be a developed state with high income economy. In this regards, the State government will focus on creating good jobs for young people and to increase economic opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses.
The leadership of the late Pehin Sri Haji Adenan bin Satem, as the fifth Chief Minister of Sarawak though a brief one from March 1, 2014 to February 12, 2017 brought about a new scenario to political development in the State. His leadership was successful in implementing various initiatives and development programmes, which were people centric.
He was active in fighting for the State’s autonomy and the evolution of powers from the Federal to the State Government in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). During his administration, the construction of Pan Borneo Highway project, the biggest infrastructure project, could be launched in Sarawak.
Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who served as the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014 considered himself lucky to be able to inherit a legacy of peace and political stability, which enabled him to focus efforts on development.
Then his primary concern was to pull Sarawak out of the backwater of development into its mainstream. He was preoccupied with the idea that Sarawak must run faster than other states in order to catch up with their progress and advancement.
Then the rate of poverty was about 60 per cent and unemployment among the people especially youth in villages and longhouses were very high. The demographic pattern of the State was about 80% rural and 20% urban.
He realised the situation gave rise to an explosive feeling of dissatisfaction against the government, which was being accused of pursuing politics of favouritism. Consequently, instigating racial and communal feelings was the best weapon to win support, though a highly divisive support, in any elections.
Tun Abdul Taib, acknowledged as the Visionary Builder of Modern Sarawak, believed strongly that politics in Sarawak, like those in the rest of the country, must be based on sincere desire to achieve something to fulfil independence with good economic growth and development that can bring positive changes to the people.
In this regards, whatever political views the people entertain, must not prevent them from agreeing, as a matter of principle, on the question of development for the people, State and country.
Undoubtedly, Sarawak has been able to achieve the present level of development and progress with sustained efforts of the Government, which enjoys a strong support and co-operation of the people. The change has been phenomenal to such an extent that even people, who have been afraid of change, now accept it as a way of life.
It is a manifestation of the fact that the state government has been managing the resources and maintaining the unity and solidarity of the people efficiently. The resilience and the strength of the people, the political stability and social cohesiveness are in fact something that everybody should be grateful for.
Obviously both DAP and PKR, which take instructions from their bosses in Kuala Lumpur, have no agenda for Sarawak. They never came up with manifestos except slogans and rhetoric in any elections. In the State Elections in 2011, DAP’s campaign slogan was “Ubah” or Change believing that it was pioneering the movement for change. The irony was it was still very led by leaders like Lim Kit Siang, the late Karpal Singh, Dr. Chen Man Hin and others who were in their late 70s.
Besides, Pehin Sri Abdul Taib had been talking about change since he came back to Sarawak to helm the State Government on March 26, 1981. He was of the view that in any civilisation the people must work very hard for progress and advancement; once they achieve some progress they even work harder to build on their success. They must move ahead with greater determination and perseverance to improve on their success.
History has shown that in any civilisation, including modern ones do not last forever because the people, once they become very successful, assume that other people are wrong and backward.
It has been easy for opposition leaders from Peninsular Malaysia to look down on Sarawak as backward state due its under-developed infrastructure development and poor public transport system as compared to Peninsular Malaysia. It takes the current Prime Minister, Dato Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak to realise that Sarawak, after about 50 years of Independence, must also have a highway and an improved road transport system. The country cannot afford to have a place like Kapit, inaccessible by roads, being isolated from the rest of the State.
His predecessors on the other hand gave priorities to building grandiose projects like Sepang racing track, second highway to Pulau Pinang and crooked bridge across the Johor Straits. A leader of the opposition even boasted that it would take only five years to develop the highway across the length and breadth of Sarawak, which represents about 95% of the total land size of Peninsular Malaysia.
The State has about 6,000 small settlements, each with less than 50 or 20 doors. The only big settlements are Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sarikei, Mukah, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri that have the economies of scale.
The state was left with only 1,800 KMs of sub-standard roads comprising gravel and earth roads after 200 years of rule by the White Rajah and British colonial administration. The opposition leaders, the most arrogant ones from DAP, actually spiked their own noses by criticising the poor infrastructure development in Sarawak.
Firstly, they are ignorant of the fact that infrastructure development is the responsibility of the Federal Government; it is under the Federal list. The Federal Minister of Works used to be the Member of Parliament from MIC or UMNO, who had no sympathy for Sarawak to such an extent that the State had to plead with them to get meaning projects like roads and bridges
Again thank to the current Prime Minister, who decided to appoint the Member of Parliament for Petra Jaya, Dato Seri Fadillah Yusof, to become the Federal Minister of Works. Now while the people in Peninsular Malaysia can talk about LRT, underground railway and super highway, at least the people in Sarawak can talk about longest bridges, coastal roads and Highway, no thanks to big talking opposition.
Tun Abdul Taib’s (the current Head of State) primary concern, since he took over the helm of the State government was to pull the State out of the back water of development into its mainstream. He was preoccupied with the idea that Sarawak must run faster than other states in order to catch up with their progress and advancement.
Then the rate of poverty was about 60 per cent and unemployment among the people especially youth in villages and longhouses were very high. The demographic pattern of the State was about 80% rural and 20% urban. The situation gave rise to an explosive feeling of dissatisfaction against the government, which was being accused of pursuing politics of favouritism.
The new way forward must necessarily be to mobilise the people and orientate them towards development. Whatever political views they entertain must not prevent them from agreeing, as a matter of principle, on the question of development for the people.
Of course, Vision 2020 is the idea of looking into the future with perfect eyesight. In this regard, the people must try to open their eyes with the maximum power of clarity in order to have a full perspective of what constitutes the truth. In other words, the people must try to recognise all facets of what constitute the truth.
Basically, efforts to develop a society in any civilisation must be based on the willingness to recognise the truth. Hence, conscientious efforts must be made to ensure the development of culture remains consistent with the new reality, clear vision and wider perspective.
Any nation, in the process of building a new civilisation must fight based on the truth. For example, Confucius preaches followers to make adjustments in order to achieve equilibrium in the society; they must learn to conquer their lowest desire.
In a multi- racial and multi-religious society like ours, the people must be pragmatic. For example, they must be prepared to use the good values from various religions in the search for a good social policy. They must accept the fact that, in spite of different racial origins, religious beliefs, socio-economic status and backgrounds, they must find ways to improve the livelihood of the people.
Tun Abdul Taib equates the various religious and ethnic groups to a follow of water from tributaries, streams and rivers in different colours, some may be clear, others may be yellow, red, green or black, into the sea.
As they flow downward, the colours gradually change and by the time they reach the sea, they become blue only. More importantly, they become stronger and bigger that they can even float load of things into the sea.
To Tun Abdul Taib, the flow of water from rivers to the sea actually typifies an example of the need to have more energy and resources in movement towards a Malaysian identity. Though the water may have different colours, as they pass through curves, deep hollows and headlands, the colours start to change; eventually they become one colour only.
In this regards, the process of assimilation is almost like flow of water from rivers into the sea. This is the stage where Sarawak is today. The fresh water from rivers has to mix with salty water in the sea. However, there will be changes in the movement of the water with tides bringing sea water into rivers, while the receding water bring fresh water into the sea.
For the people of Sarawak, comprising about 30 ethnic groups, diverse religious beliefs and other different backgrounds, changes must necessarily come through own initiatives and efforts. They must follow the waves of change from time to time.
Tun Abdul Taib believes Sarawak is actually at the gateway to the new reality, which can be considered as a new phenomenon in favour of the people, who must embrace the new reality with positive attitude. For example, they embrace change with the knowledge that change is good for them.
The momentum of change has actually helped the people to develop positive attitude, for example, they recognise that changes bring to them new opportunities. For this reason, they are mobile as mobility is something that is good, though it may also bring problems to the society at large.
In this respect, the people must not only talk about social but also physical mobility, a phenomenon, which has already seen 20% of the rural people moving to urban areas. They may face the problems of getting good jobs, while the children may get less guidance from their parents, who will be too busy trying to make ends meet.
Hence, conscientious efforts must be made to instil competitive spirit among the people, the ethnic communities in particular. They must be competitive, based on meritocracy, to ensure that our standard of quality will not deteriorate.
Obviously, the concept of meritocracy must be fully understood and appreciated by all of the people; even the Penans must learn to interact with other natives. All Bumiputera groups must interact among them with a view to find ways and means how to upgrade their knowledge and skills through more informal ways.
There is no escape from meritocracy because there is no escape to competitions in a globalised world. Hence, the people must make conscientious efforts to improve productivity, which means they must be resourceful. They have no time for self-pity. Otherwise, they cannot expect change.
Essentially, the people must have faith in themselves that they can be as good as other people. However, they must be prepared to work hard, be persistent and never give up. They must believe in themselves that what others can do they can also do it if not better than them.
Generally, the people must have the common spirit and ambition to improve their livelihood to attain the same level of progress and prosperity of the society. In other words, they must move with time and not to cling to old ideas if they want progress and prosperity.
Obviously, they must work as a team, be innovative and knowledgeable about the country and state. They must also be resilient and have the ability to adjust to change and work with the greater courage and determination in facing the challenges ahead.
It is time for the people to stop with the petty politics and instead work together in pursuit of development. Instead, the people, comprising of various ethnic groups, must be more determined to act with a strong sense of dedication in the common efforts to achieve the development objectives within the stipulated framework.
They must stay united and should not be distracted by political bickering and arguments over petty issues, which do not benefit anybody. They must accept that unity is not a negotiable matter or something that can be made into political controversies.
