Pakatan’s chances of winning the 13th General Election

Kenny Gan, Malaysia Chronicle

To be sure, this is not the first time that the opposition parties have grouped together to challenge BN. In the 1990 general election, Tengku Razaleigh’s Semangat 46 forged a coalition with other opposition parties and in 1999 DAP, PAS and Keadilan formed Barisan Alternatif to take advantage of public revulsion over Mahathir’s cruel treatment of Anwar.

The 13th general election will be the most watched and anxiously awaited event in the annals of Malaysian political history. Previous general elections have been tame affairs where the result was never in doubt; it was only a matter of how many seats the opposition could wrest away from BN. But the next election will be different as BN faces a real threat of losing power to a united opposition.

Would new Sarawak Chinese party be the answer?

Bernama

Would a new Chinese-based party which is pro-BN and ready to discuss the many complaints among Sarawakian Chinese with the state and federal leadership be an answer?

The idea of one such party cropped up following the debacle faced by the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) after losing all but six of the 19 urban Chinese-majority seats it contested, which was seen by many, including those within the BN itself, as a massive rejection by the voters of the Chinese-based SUPP.

Federal Court hears S’wak natives’ landmark case

Hazlan Zakaria

The Federal Court today heard submissions by a indigenous group from Sarawak challenging the Sarawak Land Code, used to acquire their native customary rights (NCR) land.

This is considered a historic test case as the outcome would affect hundreds of suits brought by Sarawak’s indigenous people against the Sarawak government and private companies.

Elimination of NCR on land violates basic rights, court told

– Bernama

A group of natives want a directive issued by a minister to deny their customary rights on their land set aside.

The elimination of native customary rights (NCR) on land occupied by two groups of indigenous people in Sarawak amounted to a gross violation of their fundamental rights, the Federal Court here heard today.

Lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah, representing the native groups, argued that the directive issued by the Sarawak Resource Planning Minister to deny the customary rights of natives on their land ought to be set aside because it deprived the natives of their life, livelihood and way of life.

Will DAP end up eloping with SNAP

Iskandar Dzulkarnain

DAP is considering a merger with SNAP, amidst howling protests from all sides. With mixed reactions from the public, DAP should tread with care. On a positive note, a merger would enhance Pakatan Rakyat’s chances to gain a firmer foothold in Sarawak. It would also mean the stretching of DAP’s limited resources to set up branches in all the SNAP constituencies deep in the recesses of Sarawak.

A merger with SNAP will also allow DAP to make inroads into unknown territory, boosted by SNAP’s influence and an increment of seats to contest.

Sarawakians willing to die for Taib

FMT Staff

Like it or not Bumiputeras in Sarawak ‘appreciate and revere’ Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, notes a PBB senator.

KUCHING:  Having proudly delivered all of its 35 seats to the ruling Barisan Nasional regime in the April 16 polls, an affronted Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) today slammed critics of Taib Mahmud saying that he was still a much ‘revered’ leader to Sarawakians.

PBB Supreme Council member Senator Idris Buang said there were ‘many Sarawakians who were willing to die for leaders like Taib.”

Najib’s no match for wily old Taib

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz

The moment he got wind of Umno KL’s plans to replace him, he swiftly moved to consolidate his grip over Sarawak.

It’s time for the boys on our side to rethink what has happened in Sarawak. A victorious and accordingly emboldened Taib Mahmud is now a cause for more headaches to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Umno.

Let’s replay the behind-the-scene incidents on April 16. On that night, after making sure he already had the numbers, Taib called the house asking family members to get ready.

Urgent need for road in Kapit

FMT Staff

Now that the election dust has settled, the Sarawak BN will have to quickly deliver on its promises to the rural community.

KAPIT: Barely 10 days since receiving a fresh mandate to administer the state, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in Sarawak is already facing demands from rural folk to fulfil its election promises.

According to residents of Rumah Bundong, a longhouse in Kapit, the ruling coalition had promised during the run-up to the April 16 polls, to look into roads and upgrading facilities in the area.

Taib’s win blocking BN’s Sarawak reforms, says analyst

Clara Chooi

Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s prevalence in Sarawak will likely add further strain to federal-state ties as the Najib administration continues to face the dilemma of the Chief Minister’s extended stay in power, an analyst here predicted.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer Dr Faisal Syam Hazis told a forum last night that Taib’s thumping victory meant it was unlikely that the strongman would bow out from politics before the next general election is called.

Split led to dysfunctional Sarawak PKR campaign

Aidila Razak

While BN had a head start through government campaigns, Sarawak PKR was dealing with factionalism which may have cost them several seats in the recently-concluded state polls.

Despite for the first time being able to provide good training for its grassroots as well as to present a coherent message, political scientist Andrew Aeria said PKR’s “deep and vicious factionalism” turned its campaign dysfunctional.

“The two factions, one led by (Sarawak PKR chief) Baru Bian and the other by Malay-Melanau leaders, led to a lot of local power-broking among those vying for candidacy,” Aeria (Below Left) told an audience of about 300 at a forum organised by pollster Merdeka Centre in Selangor yesterday. 

PKR urges Sarawakians to assess its manifesto: Change is for real

Sheela Sri Jaya, Malaysia Chronicle

PKR leaders refuted as mischievous the claims that their campaign in the just-concluded Sarawak election did not offer voters a concrete alternative to the BN.

“On the contrary, PKR was the one with a detailed manifesto but as usual the enemies of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim do not want anything that is related to him including PKR to get any credit at all,” Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin, who campaigned extensively in the Land of Hornbills during the state polls, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Umno ‘circling’ for foray into Sarawak

Aidila Razak

The presence of Umno bigwigs and machinery during the BN election campaign in Sarawak has raised questions about the peninsula-based Malay party’s role in the state.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political science lecture Andrew Aeria (below left) is of the opinion that Umno will eventually move into Sarawak.

“But I dare not say more. I can’t really see it happening yet but the day (Chief Minister Abdul) Taib (Mahmud) moves away from the scene, there will be some serious moves (into Sarawak by Umno),” he said. 

Reflections on PRN10 Sarawak

Sim Kwang Yang

My first brush with electoral politics in Malaysia happened 33 years ago, in 1978. I was in Kuching for the summer vacation, a break from my university course in philosophy. I had already enrolled in graduate school, intending to pursue a PhD in that obscure subject.

I read in the newspaper that a group of Kuching people were trying to set up a new branch for the DAP. I knew nothing about the DAP and did not know their secretary-general Lim Kit Siang. But I have always been convinced that democracy is good for the people, in Sarawak or elsewhere. So I walked up to the local contact person and signed up as a member.

PKR confident of bigger win

Athi Shankar

The party believes that it can take away more of Umno seats in Penang, and tells its members not to fall for their rival’s propaganda.

GEORGE TOWN: The rapid growth of Pakatan Rakyat’s political support base in Penang will help PKR to add more seats to its current stable of nine state and two parliamentary seats in the next general election.

PKR’s Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff is confident that Pakatan’s grassroots political set-up will boost PKR’s chances in the seats won by Umno with narrow margins in the 2008 general election.

PKR to ask Pakatan partners to share Sarawak burden

Clara Chooi

Rafizi: PKR does not mind shouldering the burden or breaking the ground but in my opinion, this effort should be shared out equally.

PKR wants Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners to share the burden of contesting in hard-to-win seats in Sarawak during the coming general election to avoid a repeat of the just-concluded state polls.

PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told reporters today that he will raise the matter during the PR secretariat meeting tomorrow.

He pointed out that PKR had been forced to stretch its resources thin during the April 16 state polls when it contested in a whopping 49 state seats, a move that had likely contributed to its failure to win in more than just three constituencies.

Ibans storm SUPP office asking for ‘election reward’

Sarawak News

More than 100 Ibans stormed the Sibu headquarters of the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) yesterday, demanding the balance of RM400 each as the reward promised for backing its candidate who won in the recent state election.

Sibu Election Watch (SEW) in a press statement released late yesterday evening said the Ibans were upset that they did not get the “balance”, despite being promised the money by SUPP election agents as well as the tuai rumah (longhouse head) before the April 16 polls.

The fight will go on

FMT

It serves little purpose to wield the axe on the press doing its job to report nothing but the truth.

NEW In his hour of victory, Taib Mahmud saw fit to bar FreeMalaysiaToday (FMT) from attending a press conference at his palatial residence. It was a boorish act not befitting the high office he holds. Evidently, he wants to punish the news portal for showing him up to the world for what he is – corrupt, rapacious, arrogant, nasty. His message is, he is still the boss and no one can touch him or his dynasty. He probably has a hit list of all the online newspapers and “troublemakers” who have been exposing his vile deeds. But the white rajah has forgotten that he is no longer in charge of the destiny of Sarawak. He may have been given a fresh mandate but he will not have the freedom to do as he pleases. Indeed, he will come under more intense scrutiny here and abroad. His freewheeling days are over.

Anwar: Sarawak election far from fair and just

Ang Ngan Toh

The recent Sarawak election was anything but clean, free and fair, charged PKR adviser Anwar Ibrahim today.

“Even the Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan was not allowed to come to Sarawak to monitor the election process,” said Anwar at a packed press conference immediately after meeting PKR members behind closed doors at a hotel in Kuching.

“Why? Clearly they wanted to cheat and that was why they disallowed a leader of Bersih to come, because they wanted to do (main) kotor (play dirty)” he said.

Anwar, top PKR leaders meet in Sarawak as DAP digs in on SNAP merger plans

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Amid concerns that Pakatan Rakyat might be infiltrated by rival elements from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s BN coalition, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim held a “pow-wow” with top leaders of his PKR party in Sarawak.

At the closed-door meeting, the PKR leaders are expected to chart plans for the national elections expected to take place soon. They are also expected to discuss alternative solutions in the event of multi-parties contesting the same seats should an internal row brewing amongst coalition members get out of hand.

Sarawak DAP eyeing more rural seats

Joseph Tawie

Following its mega success in the recent state polls, Sarawak DAP is now eyeing four Dayak-majority parliamentary seats.

In the coming parliamentary election, Sarawak DAP is targeting Mas Gading, Mambong, Serian and Sri Aman which are Dayak majority constituencies as part of its aim to shed away its image as a Chinese party.

“Even though the four parliamentary seats are Dayak majority, there are however substantial numbers of Chinese voters,” said state DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen.

SNAP not keen on DAP merger, mulls over ‘many options’

Joe Fernandez

We were betrayed by PKR during the state election and stabbed in the back by DAP, says SNAP sec-gen Stanley Jugol.

The Sarawak National Party (SNAP), a formidable nationalist force which once ruled the state, is at a crossroads in the wake of the just-concluded April 16 state election, according to a post-mortem concluded within days.

However, while the Iban-led party – Parti Asal Bansa Kitai — may be down for now, it’s by no means out.

Time of reckoning: The next general election

Sim Kwang Yang

Following the conclusion of the April 16 state election inSarawak, the country must now be gearing up for the next general election, which could be as early as June or July this year.

This national election will be the most significant electoral contest in the history of Malaysia.

My personal and fervent hope is to see the emergence of an alternative government in the country.

Without the possibility of a change in government, there can be no true democracy in any modern polity. 

Sarawak polls: Reality check for Pakatan

Bridget Welsh

 The simple fact in the wake of Saturday’s polls is that Pakatan Rakyat has failed to dent the two-thirds majority inSarawak and deliver the needed electoral gains to push Abdul Taib Mahmud from office.

Much has been made of the unfairness of the polls, the use of money and the electoral irregularities. While these issues were important, they should not be excuses that overshadow shortcomings.

Elected rights activist See Chee How swings into action

Ang Ngan Toh

After being elected in the Batu Lintang constituency in the April 16 state elections, human rights activist See Chee How immediately swung into action, attending to the numerous complaints submitted to him during the campaign period.

They include clogged drainage, unsatisfactory government service and hawkers’ problems not being attended to by local authorities.

SNAP to attention when BN calls

Pak Bui

SNAP is, indeed, a ‘dying party’, as PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim has argued.

SNAP is dying because money politics is strangling this once proud party. In the 1970s, SNAP was a truly multi-racial party, led by Sarawakians with a vision for politics that extended beyond the narrow scope of being just another candidate ‘for sale’ to cash in on an election windfall.

Walking on slippery rocks

R Kengadharan

Barisan Nasional (BN) may have kept its two-thirds majority in Sarawak, but there is little reason for it to celebrate. It cannot ignore its losses – or the reasons for them, as some of its component parties have warned.

The results are no sure indication that Sarawakians remain confident in BN and in the transformation process that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak claims to advocate. They do indicate, however, that the ruling coalition must do more than just talk about “transformation” as it prepares for the next general election.

Agi Idup, Agi Ngelaban!

Mariam Mokhtar

There are many modern-day Rentap trying free Sarawak from the oppressive rule of its Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.

When the White Rajah, James Brooke of Borneo, treated the Ibans as pirates, Rentap, an Iban leader, led a rebellion against him and managed to secure Skrang and Saribas. Brooke retaliated with bigger cannons and drove Rentap to Pakan, where the Iban warrior later died in 1863.

Rentap is a Malaysian hero. His battlecry is Agi Idup, Agi Ngelaban! which means ‘I will fight for as long as I live’.

Challenges for BN, Pakatan after the Saraak polls

Ong Kian Ming

In Part 1 of my analysis on the Sarawak elections, I explained the opposition’s failure to deny the BN a two-thirds majority in terms of the insufficient and unevenly distributed non-Muslim bumiputera (NMB) vote swing against the BN.

The complexity of the changes in the level of BN support in the NMB-majority seats, and to a lesser degree, the Malay/Melanau-majority seats, were also illustrated and explained.

Here, in Part 2 of my analysis, I put forth some of the implications and challenges for each of the major parties within the BN in Sarawak as well as the opposition in light of the election results.

Baru reveals why PKR vied for 49 seats

Andrew Ong

When it was announced that PKR would be going for 49 out of 71 seats in the Sarawak elections, questions rose whether the party, still in its infancy in Sarawak, was biting off more than it could chew.

There were also questions on why the party would not spread out the burden with its Pakatan Rakyat allies and Sarawak National Party (Snap), thereby overstretching itself.

Now that polling is over, PKR state chief Baru Bian firmly believes that the party and Pakatan made the right decision. 

Sweet and sour aftermath of Sarawak polls

Bridget Welsh

The Sarawak polls are over and the attention is now on assessing its implications at both the state and national levels. Much attention has focused on predictions for the next general elections, with the range of possible dates moving from a few months to further postponement until 2013.

My own view remains that there needs to be some time before the national election machinery is in place again, given the challenges that have emerged from the Sarawak campaign and that anything held this year would be too risky for the BN. 

Pakatan’s rural roadmap for GE13

Keruah Usit

Pakatan Rakyat’s strength in Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu may be extrapolated to deliver six to eight urban and semi-urban seats in Sarawak, out of 31 to be contested in the next parliamentary elections.

This would be a significant improvement on DAP’s two current MPs, Chong Chien Jen in Bandar Kuching and Wong Ho Leng in Bandar Sibu.

However, to make a push for the minimum 112 seats required to take over federal power, Pakatan needs rural seats. Several elements are required for Pakatan’s drive to make a dent in rural contests.

Chinese votes no longer for sale

Patrick Lee

The culture of vote-buying and promises of development have led the Chinese to distance themselves from the Barisan Nasional, experts say.

The Chinese have spoken. In a telling blow, the Chinese in Sarawak have rejected the patronage of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and are prepared to strike out on their own.

An indication of this is when they shunned the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), the state’s venerable Chinese party, and decided to place their future in the hands of the DAP, the  Chinese-based opposition political party  from the peninsula.

Why Pakatan failed to deny 2/3rd majority in Sarawak

Ong Kian Ming

 I did not have time to write a prediction piece for the recently concluded Sarawak state election because I was heavily involved in the campaign this time, rather than analysing it as an outside observer.

But I did tweet and put on Facebook (and placed a few friendly wagers) that the BN would lose its two-thirds majority by failing to win at least 47 seats. I was, not for the first time and certainly not for the last time, wrong.

In this first of my two-part analysis of this election, I will quickly lay out the basis for my initial optimism and then proceed to explain, using the election results, why my prediction did not materialise. 

To all Sarawakians, Agik Idup, Agik Ngelaban!

Sim Kwang Yang

At the height of the Sarawak election campaign, I received an email from a young Malaysiakini reader. The following is the contents of her message, sent a short time after the final day’smammoth rally for Pakatan Rakyat in Stutong, Kuching, a few hours before polling began.

“Dear Mr Sim Kwang Yang,

“I was there at the ceramah held in Stutong. I heard your speech and I was very moved by what you said. I hope for a new Sarawak, and a new hope for the young people.

Undercurrents shift from S’wak to Umno, presaging a battle royale

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

With the Sarawak polls over, the next immediate focus of attention although this may be kept out of the government mainstream media is whither Umno and in particular, Prime Minister Najib Razak?

Such a question may seem strange given that Najib’s party did not field even a single candidate for the 71 seats up for grabs in Sarawak, the country’s largest state by land mass and perhaps the richest in terms of natural resources such as oil and high-grade timber.

But Umno is the boss at BN, the coalition that rules the federal government. BN has 13 components including the Sarawakian parties PBB, PRS, SUPP and SPDP. And it was Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s PBB that retained Sarawak for BN – keeping the huge income stream chugging along from state to the federal government.