Saturday, September 20

Sarawak the Land of "Hornbills and Frogs"?

When Dr. James Masing commented that no BN members of parliament from Sarawak would jump over to the Opposition as “political frogs” and described Sarawak as “Bumi Kenyalang” (the land of the hornbills), and not “Bumi Kataks” (the land of the frogs) he was not quite right. In fact Sarawak and Sabah were once the “lands of the frogs”.

PBS government was toppled because some of its elected members leap-frogged to the Barisan. In Sarawak we have several “political frogs” and one of the most unforgettable episodes was after the Ming Court affair. According to a book, The Broken Shield (page 149), seven PBDS’ newly elected assemblymen turned “frogs” when they joined SNAP and PBB, reducing its elected representatives to eight only. Since then, PBDS never recovered its strength. Finally PBDS was deregistered on 21 October 2004 due to leadership crisis, when some of its members turned “frogs” following the demise of the party.

At the time when they leap-frogged, they were considered as “heroes” by the BN leadership and their jumping over was “in the interest of the people”. But to the PBDS supporters, they were “traitors”.

Now is Masing right to say that Sarawak is “Bumi Kenyalang” and not “Bumi Kataks”? To me Sarawak is both “Bumi Kenyalang” and “Bumi Kataks”. Sarawak is indeed a multi-racial State made up of “hornbills and frogs”. After all, the “political frogs” are still alive and they have their descendents.

What do you think?

6 comments:

NEIL said...

Of all the political frogs we have here in sarawak,the Iban frogs are the most active.They are fomous for jumping here ans there.Why is this so? One most noticeable reason is the greed.Most Iban MPs or YBs are poor.They live on their minimum salaries and are very prone to buyouts.We have very rich Ibans like Linggi Jugah,Leo Moggi,Joseph Salang etc.But rich Ibans are all on the top job and seldom do they share their riches becos their'other race' wives wouldn't allow them to do so.You notice most of the rich Ibans have Chinese wife or white woman.So back to the poor MPs and YBs who are living on handouts.Been a famous political frog also have its down side.CM knows very well that the only way to keep them in line is to limit their funds.These people if given a chance to be rich will cause havoc to the state. Look at the Ming Court incident when the rich Leo was at helm.So now you see SPDP with William Mawan as president is fully finance by a well known MP chinese in Bintulu.PRS was formerly finance by Sng but not now after the leadership tussle with his son Larry.Till today SPDP and PRS the offshot of PBDS can never stang up on its own.Their call for PM to give them positions in the GLCs have fallen on deaf ears.To be a political beggar you must at least have some cards to play but alas these leaders have none.Whoever will take over PRS must have the cash and clout and that person is none other than Joseph Salang.When you have the cash then all these MPs will not be a political frog for the time being.

chapchai said...

I agree with Jetty. Sarawak is famous for its hornbills and frogs, although sighting of the former is getting rarer by the day. Do you think the frogs have frightened away the hornbills by depriving them of their habitat?

Anonymous said...

Yes, in M'sia party-hopping has and will be the order of the day. UMNO/PAS, MCA/Gerakan, USNO/BERJAYA/PBS/LDP/SAPP/UPKO, PBB/SNAP/SUPP/PBDS/SPDP/PRS, etc

If hopping is to BN, then it is good and otherwise if BN members to BA.

A few names that comes to my mind who are still active and stays on in the same party includes Nik Aziz, Karpal Singh, Taib (sic), Jabu(sic)

Any more?

JJ

Anonymous said...

I think Masing is right..heheh. S'wak is not land of 'ringkak' (bula tuk, nama dikena sida aki Masing umpan taut kelia deh?mapap ndar apai tuai nya)... it's a land of 'kenyalang'. Well, if we can't jump like katak, we still have wings to 'terebai' to the other side mah..so, what makes the difference?still can defect what...ahahhahah..just read between the lines. Sometimes, truth lies in the lie itself..
hahahah.

Anonymous said...

kah kah kah ha ha he he true enough, we have kataks as well as kenyalangs in borneo especially in sarawak specifically emong the ibans ha ha ha ucu paloi, amat gak neh wai.
next corner, we dayaks can panggang those kataks and kenyalangs alive ma ah kek kek.

Anonymous said...

If u masing happened to read this column, i tell u, u deserved to be toyed around. u destroyed PBDS and now it served u very right. Sng is toying u around together with aki uban. u r just a direct descendent of aki .....
i don c in u what kind of knowledge u got in ur phd? cmmon man prove ur worth. As an iban i hate a character like u. u don have to follow suit jabu. jabu is a goneby good for nothing personality, not a leader so to say.