Sarawak, a land of many tongues

Sim Kwng Yang

In  Malaysian textbooks, much has been made of the three main races in our country — the Malays, Chinese and Indians. This national picture is a distortion, ignoring the colourful ethnographic composition of Sarawak.

In Sarawak, the Land of the Hornbills, the ethnographic picture is much more complex than in West Malaysia. There are officially 27 ethnic groups, with not a single one constituting a simple majority. Sarawak is rightly the most diverse and colourful conglomeration of the ethnic mix that makes this state so unique.

Sarawak PKR lauds George Chan’s stands on ‘special rights’

Joseph Tawie

A Sarawak PKR leader has welcomed Deputy Chief Minister George Chan’s assurance that the state government was against the erosion of Sarawak’s “special rights” as detailed in the 18-point agreement.

“I welcome the sudden realisation of state Barisan Nasional leaders on Sarawak’s rights which we in Pakatan Rakyat or PKR have been voicing all the while. But I am wondering what, after 30 years as Sarawak leaders, did they do to preserve and protect such rights,’ said state PKR chairman Baru Bian.

A new dawn in Malaysia, hopefully

Malaysia First

The next general election when called is going to be a watershed election and may turn a new page in Malaysia’s history. It is now or never and the people have to decide whether they want to maintain the status quo or as cautioned by the Prime Minister, take a gamble with our vote and hand the head of government to an alternative coalition that do not have any experience governing at the federal level. 

Already we have seen the bickering among the so-called coalition-of-willing. Do we trust they will govern to our expectation. That is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.

Changing of guard naturally comes with high expectations, but at the same time,

End of the year 2010, what is there to celebrate in ushering in a New Year?

Sim Kwang Yang

IN a few days’ time, on January 1, 2011, we shall witness the end of the year 2010.

I admit that, in the long winding river of history, the end of another decade is just another arbitrary cut off point. Still, it feels like a useful excuse for us to look back the last 10 years, and scour our memory for the most significant events that have changed our human history.

Even the study of history is subjective. The nation-state is still the most basic unit for our political organisation.

PBB puts a dent in PKR’s boast

Joseph Tawie

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s party Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) has dismissed the notion that the Sarawak PKR will win “any” seats in the coming state election.

Supreme council member Abdul Rahman Junaidi ( Left in Photo )believes the Sarawak PKR is not likely to win any seats and will not be able to retain even its Padungan seat held by PKR’s Dominique Ng.

“PKR will likely lose all the seats it will contest in the coming state election. It will even lose Padungan,” Abdul Rahman said..

Najib’s miscalculation

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

If APCO was paid RM77 million in one-year to build Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s image, then it cannot be doing a good job and Najib should demand a refund. The company can’t be of any use because Najib is receiving an extraordinary amount of flak and has to go on the defensive almost on a weekly basis.

Najib’s costly mistake in hiring APCO to help formulate policies and communications has backfired.

Najib even has to enlist the help of fellow Cabinet colleagues to help prop up his image, but with the sterling choice of candidates at his disposal, these men are making his image worse.

Sarawakians Wake Up: Development Is Not Reward For Supporting BN, But Your Rights

 

Karim Raslan

Travelling through Sarawak has prompted me to think about the fundamental paradoxes that lie at the heart of governance in Malaysia.

While they’re at their most pronounced in Sarawak, the themes and challenges are pretty much uniform wherever you go in the country.

As in the peninsula, the cities and towns of Sarawak have turned against the BN. At the same time, most rural areas remain solidly ‘blue’. It’s a mirror of image of what is happening across the South China Sea, with the notable exception of Kelantan.

Cyber campaigning for the coming election ?

Lim Mun Fah

If the general election is held next year, what kind of election would it be? How would the Internet change the election ecology and affect the election results?

Undeniably, except for the Malayan People’s Socialist Front (SF) which was comparable with the BN coalition in the 1950s and the 1960s, the weakest element of local opposition parties has always been the weak grassroots organization.

The 1950s to 1960s was an era of intense ideological struggle. Component parties of the SF, namely the Labour Party of Malaya and the People’s Party, took the line of workers and peasants.

The battle for Taib’s affections

Mariam Mokhtar

Sunday lunch with the rest of the family in the Taib household is never going to be the same again. Sarawak Chief Minister, 74-year-old Taib Mahmud has taken a new young bride from Jordan and at 28-years-old, the age difference is an eye-watering 46 years.

Even Taib’s youngest daughter from his union with his Polish–Australian wife, Laila, who died last year, is only 38 years old. It will be awkward for Hanifah to call a younger woman “mama”.

Pakatan’s 100-day reform plan: Malaysia unbound

Terence Netto

You could call it ‘Malaysia Makeover Phase 1′ – this Pakatan Rakyat 100-day reform plan, enunciated a week ago at its second annual convention in Kepala Batas.

You could also call it by more grandiloquent terms like ‘National Recovery Plan’ or ‘Malaysia Revival Programme’, as both are appropriate to the necessity of the task and its gravity for our future.

Definitely, the latter two labels have got more oomph if less alliteration.

But they suffer for reason of their ready comparison to such monikers as ‘Great Leap Forward’ and ‘Marshall Plan’

Overseas Malaysians to sue EC over non-voting rights

Teoh El Sen

A group of Malaysians demanding voting rights for all citizens living abroad are planning to bring the Election Commission and the government to court.

MyOverseasVote (MOV) international coordinator Andrew Yong  told FMT that the group is looking to file the suit in the first half of 2011.

MOV or ‘Malaysians Overseas – Right to Vote’ is a campaign that was recently kicked off in London and aims to encourage Malaysians living or working abroad to vote.

Vote for CHANGE!

HU Editor

( Video Links inside ) What lies ahead in 2011? With prices of essential goods soaring, are Malaysians grumbling? Why should the Rakyat suffer, and pay the  price of corruption, wastage and mismanagement by the BN government.
Stop the price hike,

Taib’s OK with joint state-federal polls

FMT Staff

Sarawak Barisan Nasional is ready to go with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak if the latter decides on joint polls.

Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said the state’s four-party coalition of Pesaka Bersatu Bumiputera (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Democratic Progressive Party (SPDP), would accommodate any request that Najib has.

“If Najib is inspired to hold the election soon, it is probably better for both parties to synchronise it with the state polls,” he said.

The spirit of brotherhood in Sarawak

Sim Kwang Yang

The day has arrived for another Christmas, the occasion marking the birth of Christ, which Christians believe heralded salvation for mankind. This day witnesses a joyful explosion of universal celebration.

Though I am not a Christian, living in multicultural Malaysia, it is hard not to notice the significance of Christmas day itself. Today also commemorates the 2,000th anniversary of the Christian religion. Living among many Christian Malaysians, it is hard not to be moved by this day of global joy among our Christian brothers and sisters.

A Christmas tribute to the La Salle Brothers

Sim Kwang Yang

My brush with Christianity marked me for life: I was taught by the La Salle Brothers throughout my secondary education, a life-changing experience that only fellow former La Sallian students can appreciate.

I was a scraggy boy growing up on the mean streets of Kuching, very vulnerable to the street gangs that roamed my poor neighbourhood.

I had just finished by six years of Chinese primary education and a year of transition class in English, when my late mother decided to send me to the famed St Joseph’s Secondary School run by the La Salle Brothers.

Tear down Sarawak’s bamboo curtain

Sim Kwang Yang

The banned entry of PKR MP N Gobalakrishnan into Sarawak on Christmas Eve of 2008 has stirred up a mini-storm in both the Land of the Hornbills and the alternative media in West Malaysia.

Once again, the question on the mind of many Malaysians is this: why should a citizen require a passport or a permit to travel to a territory within the Federation of Malaysia?

To answer this question, we have to revisit the early days shortly before the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

Masing again blasts critics as ignorant and arrogant liars

Joseph Tawie

Sarawak Land Development Minister James Masing has come out with guns blazing against activists who accuse the state of grabbing land from the natives.

“They are both ignorant and arrogant,” he said, adding that he did not care if he appeared too aggressive in trying to help the poor.

He also branded as liars those who accuse the state of robbing the Penans of their land.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

100-day reforms: BN has lost and Pakatan deserves a chance

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin scoffed at Pakatan’s 100-day reforms in the event that they formed the federal government and reminded the public ‘why BN has been in power for more than half a century and counting’.

His shameless attempt to discredit Pakatan is an insult to the electorate. He said, “Pakatan can promise the sun, moon, stars and mountains… But that is not the way of the BN government. We cannot squander our nation’s wealth.”

The Merry Widower is off the market

Pak Bui

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must
be in want of a wife.’

‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’

Taib has a lot to hide, says ex-Suhakam vice-chair

Joe Fernandez

Ex-Suhakam vice-chairman Simon Sipaun cautions that Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud will not hesitate to use the immigration powers of the state to keep out “prying eyes” from the state.

This is more a case of abusing rather than using the immigration powers of the state as intended under the federal and state constitutions, he added.

Penans sue to protect Borneo rainforest

FMT Staff

BA JAWI: The Penan community here is suing the Sarawak government and timber giant Samling Plywood for logging in 15,000 hectares of the government approved Penan Peace Park bordering Indonesia.

Ba Jawi village headman Lija Agan on behalf of his community, lodged a collective lawsuit against the defendents in order to protect their livelihood and the ‘high-conservation-value’ tropical forest from being destroyed by logging.

Can BN find 82 new ‘ailment’-free candidates?

Stanley Bye Kadam Kiai

In the past it would have been more difficult to secure a Barisan Nasional endorsed-candidacy than to win in an election.

The peoples’ trust in the BN at that time was so strong that any Tan, Daud and Hari would have won had they contested in the election on a BN ticket.

But March 2008 gave the Umno-BN coalition a painful jolt. It lost its two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat and five states to the opposition.

Blind loyalty is dangerous in high places

Pak Bui

The recent Radio Free Sarawak interview with Abdul Karim Hamzah, chief political secretary to Sarawak’s chief minister Taib Mahmud, elicited countless disparaging remarks about Abdul Karim’s intelligence and competence.

Abdul Karim himself might be the first to admit he had a thankless task, trying to defend the indefensible. He had a duty to perform, and he tried his best, but he was bound to fail.

BILLION RINGGIT BRIDE

Sarawak Report

We have an exclusive picture of Sarawak Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud’s, new young bride.  Kuching has been aflame with interest and amusement at the leaked information that the 74 year old has found himself a second wife who is apparently still in her 20s.

However, the government has refused to issue official confirmation of the wedding ceremony, which was celebrated at the weekend in the Chief Minister’s vast mansion

Sarawak PKR to flush rural areas with CDs, flyers

Joseph Tawie

Sarawak PKR has resorted to CDs and leaflets as part of its campaign to wrest control of the state from Barisan Nasional in the coming state elections.

Launching the campaign here, state PKR chairman Baru Bian said some 200 CDs and leaflets were distributed at a function at the Dewan Masyarakat car park on Sunday.

“In the next week or so, some 10,000 CDs and 40,000 leaflets will be distributed in Kuching and its suburbs.

Sarawak ripe for political transformation

Sim Kwang Yang

The politics of Malaysia is condemned to be ethnic in nature. Much of the political discourse in our country is determined by the most dominant force in our land: the United Malays National Organisation (Umno). Everything political must be considered within Umno’s parameters of racial balance.

Yet the racial imperative in Malaysia is perturbed, and unsettled, by the anomaly of the unique ethnic composition in Sarawak. By the logic of race, during the time of Merdeka, when Malaysian independence was achieved in 1963, the Master Race in Sarawak ought to have been the Iban.

Electricity for Bakun resettlers ‘only’ if state provides lines

FMT staff

KUCHING: Residents in the 15 longhouses in the Sungai Assap resettlement scheme will ‘only’ receive power from the Bakun project if the authorities provide the transmission lines.

“We will supply power from Bakun to the Belaga township and longhouses in Sungai Assap if there are plans by the relevant authorties to provide transmission lines, ” said the Bakun project management office.

Sarawak PKR slams BN’s track record

Joseph Tawie

KUCHING: The Barisan Nasional state government has not only failed its citizens but also turned resource-rich Sarawak into the fourth poorest state in Malaysia, said Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian.

“I believe the voters know the real situation, BN has failed Sarawakians for the past 47 years. Where has the wealth gone? Is this BN’s track record that the voters want to maintain?” he asked.

Taib family cashing in NCR land worth RM90 mil?

MalaysiaKini

Whistleblower website Sarawak Report has unveiled what appears to be another dubious land deal involving Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family – this time in the Sri Aman vicinity that is said to be worth up to RM90 million.

The 8,800 hectares (22,000 acres) in question – in the Bijat district in Sungai Tisak, east of Kuching – is, according to Iban rights group Sadia, a native customary rights (NCR) land that belongs to the Ibans.

Thugs raise stakes in Sarawak land conflicts

Keruah Usit

Rural Sarawakians may lack adequate access to information on Abdul Taib Mahmud’s means of amassing an immense fortune, reported to be worth several billion US dollars.

But many have certainly felt the direct impact of land acquisition favouring plantation and logging companies closely linked with Taib’s family.

Reports of force used by police and company employees (including members of organised gangs) against villagers defending their land against intruders have been increasing.

Taib’s New Outrage – Taking Care of My Son by Robbing My People !

. Sarawak Report

Sarawak Report has uncovered an explosive situation in Sri Aman, where we can reveal that the Chief Minister is in the very process of trying to sell off land which he gave free to his son, for a multi-million ringgit profit.

The 22,000 acres in question (8,800 hectares) is in Bijat Land District, Sungai Tisak.  It is established Native Customary Rights Land belonging to Ibans, according to Sadia the Iban rights group.  They say at least 15 communities will be affected by the acquisition of the land for oil palm plantation, however no warning has been given to these communities and no offer of compensation has been made.

More native lands to make way for oil palm

FMT Staff

With an already declining rainforest, Sarawak now intends to turn another million hectares of jungle into oil palm plantations in the next 10 years.

According to English daily The Star, Sarawak Land Development Minister James Masing said native customary rights (NCR) land belonging to the state’s indigenous people would be used to plant more oil palm.

Native rights defender released on court bail

HU Editor

( Updated with Video and Photo link )Numpang Anak Suntai was charged in the Serian Magistrate Court this morning. He was released on court bail of RM5000 with 2 sureties. More than 200 Sebangan villagers and other NCR landowners nearby Serian came to show their support. Trial is fixed for 16 to 17 February 2011 in Simunjan. Keadilan legal team of Baru Bian, See Chee How and Desmond Kho represents Numpang.

The video of the court case is here. Lawyer Baru Bian to update the court situation on Numpang’s case.

More Photo at Keadilan Stampin Facebook

Taib’s Sarawak to destroy 1 million hectares of tropical forests

Malaysia Chronicle

The Sarawak government intends to convert one million hectares of land into oil palm plantations within the next ten years. Most of this land is currently covered by secondary rainforests, yet it also includes fruit and rubber gardens as well as hitherto untouched primary rainforests, including peatland swamp forests.

According to Sarawak’s Land Development Minister, James Masing, the government needed to look into a more aggressive conversion of native lands into oil palm plantations. He said that the state government intended to double its oil palm plantation area from the current 920,000 hectares to 2 million hectares by 2020, and stated that his ministry had requested funds from the Malaysian federal government for this purpose. The announcement was made in an interview with The Star, Malaysia’s largest English-language newspaper.