Street fighters verses Gangsters and corruptors!

The defeat of the Sarawak United People’s Party at the recently concluded Sibu by-election is too much for the party leaders to accept so much so that they behave like a cry-baby.

And the loss is the more bitter when the party was defeated at its home ground, which it has controlled and “ruled” non-stop for the past 20 years and at the same time it dashed the hope of the so-called visionary team to transform Sibu into a modern city equipped with the first class infrastructure.

And one of the members of the team was Robert Lau Hoi Chew whose death on 9 April sparked of the by-election on 16 May.

In the by-election, SUPP-BN candidate Robert Lau Hui Yew was defeated by DAP-Pakatan candidate Richard Wong Ho Leng by a slim majority of 398 votes.

Hui Yew obtained 18,447 votes as against Ho Leng’s 18,845. In the 2008 parliamentary election Ho Leng was defeated by Hui Chew’s cousin, Robert Lau Hoi Chew by 3235 vote majority.

In reality Ho Leng’s majority should be 3633 votes (3235+398).

SUPP leaders were deeply disappointed with the defeat and they could not take it so much so that they behave like a cry-baby blaming the defeat on the West Malaysian style of politics being introduced into the by-election.

But what SUPP really fear is that the tsunamic effect of the loss may create political waves that may wipe out the seats that the party is holding now such as Pelawan, Bawang Assan (both under the Sibu parliamentary constituency), Dudong, Repok, Batu Kawah, Pujut, Senadin and Piasau (all these Chinese majority seats) and mixed seats like Simanggang, Opar and Bengoh.

It has already lost eight seats including seven Chinese majority seats to the Opposition in the 2006 State election.

And the fear of SUPP becoming a mosquito party is staring them at their face. And the fear is clearly mentioned by its president George Chan when he cautioned that the unexpected loss should serve as a “warning” to all BN component parties to live up to the people’s expectation or risk losing their support.

“Would this reflect on the things to come in the next election? I don’t know. If we look at it from a different angle, what happened in Sibu is definitely a good lesson to SUPP,” he said to reporters.

But in comforting and consoling SUPP, State Barisan Nasional leaders tell its leaders not to worry too much, after all the defeat is a small loss.

“After all, it is a small loss and it will not affect the State election,” said Asfia Awang Nasar, Speaker of State Legislative Assembly.

State Barisan Chairman Taib Mahmud told SUPP that its defeat in Sibu would not reflect the overall support of the majority of the people towards the Barisan Nasional.

James Masing, President of Parti Rakyat Sarawak, agreed that the loss was a small defeat and would not have impact to the BN in the coming state election, because it did not reflect the true support of the people for the Barisan Nasional.

Asking SUPP not to worry too much, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party President William Mawan Ikom said that the BN would win back the seat in the next general election.

“With the government’s commitment in taking care of the people, we should be able to get back the people’s trust and win back Sibu in the coming general election,” he said.

State BN secretary general Stephen Rundi blamed the defeat on the West Malaysian style of politics being introduced into the State,

“We don’t want this trend to come to Sarawak. And I advise those West Malaysian parties not to instigate this issue (religion) because in Sarawak we believe that Chinese, Ibans, Malays and Melanaus can eat and sit together in the same restaurant,” he said.

Now the question being asked is whether Robert Lau Hui Yew was the right candidate for the by-election knowing he is coming from a very wealthy family. Although SUPP and BN leaders kept quiet about his background during the campaign period, his background became an issue in the by-election.

Many regarded the by-election as the fight between the poor, the neglect and the down-trodden pitted against the rich and the famous.

“You know who his father is?” asked Baru Bian, chairman of PKR Sarawak.

Hui Yew’s father is Lau Swee Nguong, the chairman of KTS group of companies which are involved in timber and timber-related businesses, huge oil palm plantations, in printing and in newspaper business owning The Borneo Post, Utusan Borneo and See Hua Daily News.

“I know his father, because I have two court cases brought against Lau Swee Nguong for allegedly taking away native customary rights land from the Ibans,” said Baru, the NCR land lawyer.

The two cases will be heard very soon, he added.

As we see it, the Sibu by-election was a fight between what Abang Johari said the politics of “street fighters” or a "Taiwanese style" of campaigning of the Opposition as against BN’s gangster’s style of intimidation and corruption.

For example, at Robert Lingga’s longhouse, a group of Barisan Youths came to the longhouse and started shouting and beating empty tins trying to cause disturbances and noises while Opposition leaders were addressing the longhouse folks. The Opposition leaders kept their cool. It was understood they were paid RM300 to cause the disturbances by one MP (cannot name him because he likes to sue people). He walked like a gangster from one end of the longhouse to the other and asked Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem: “Who are you?”

Tajem replied: “I am Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem.” Imagine someone like him who does not know Tajem if not for his sheer arrogance?

The other gangster’s politics practised by BN was the firing of firecrackers that lasted for 20 minutes in Sibu town itself in the evening of 14 May, drowning the voice of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while he addressed a crowd of 10,000 people. The BN was unhappy when they in the same evening addressed about 500 people. The firing of the firecrackers made thousands of people angry, and because of this, they perhaps voted for the Opposition.

Of course the BN used of money to buy votes, the promise of financial allocations to various projects. If these are not corruption and bribery, what is it then? – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

SUPP’s defeat spells rocky days ahead

The following story was first published by the Malaysian Mirror and it is now published here for the readers of The Broken Shield.

By Joseph Tawie
17 May 2010
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SIBU - The Barisan Nasional-Sarawak United People’s Party has failed to retain Sibu parliamentary seat despite massive injection of money worth more than RM400 million and the promise of more to come for various development projects and plus plenty of “goodies”.

Robert Lau Hui Yew secured 18,477 votes as against Richard Wong of 18,845 votes, a majority of votes of 398 votes in one of the most hotly contested by-election. The May 16 by-election was held after the death of Robert Lau Hoi Chew on 9 April.

“This is a serious setback for the Barisan Nasional especially for SUPP,” said a political observer.

The defeat must have been very bitter especially after all Federal Ministers including Prime Minister Najib and his Deputy Muhyiddin Yassin put their hearts to the campaign. Najib himself made three campaign visits to Sibu to ensure the BN’s victory.

The BN was determined to add another victory to its number of MPs after its victory on the 25 April by-election in Hulu Selangor. But all their efforts failed.

So the BN leadership must be wondering what went wrong with their campaigns, their promises and with their policies.

The rejection is seen by many as a clear signal of not only troubles to come to the Barisan Nasional particularly to SUPP in the coming state election less than one year from now, but one that may start the “vote4change” tsunami in the state which has been controlled by the State Barisan under Abdul Taib Mahmud for more 29 years.

In this by-election, Taib and his administration have been one of the core issues so much so that Taib appeared to be a liability. It is said that Najib has advised him not to campaign in the town areas otherwise more Chinese would vote for DAP.

DAP has accused Taib’s politics of development as “politics of discrimination, nepotism and corruption”. The policy on land and NCR land, the awarding of timber concessions, government contracts, etc are examples of injustice and unfairness. And even the tallest Sanyan building which Taib’s brother owns also becomes an issue in Sibu.

And SUPP, being part of the government, is also to be blamed for the discriminatory policies in particular against the ordinary Chinese, while the wealthy and influential Chinese become richer.

Even the Ibans in the rural areas are badly affected by these policies. The lack of infrastructure, the absence of clean water and electricity supply in some of the 110 longhouses is an example of this neglect.

When Najib went to one of the longhouses to campaign, he saw certain houses have no electricity. He was very embarrassed. He ordered an immediate electricity connection. Luckily there were some SESCO wiremen following Najib.

Another factor that might have contributed to SUPP’s failure to retain the seat was the unsolvable bickering over the formation of the Dudong Branch. The leader of the Dudong branch and over 3,000 of his supporters were excluded in the campaign. The Malaysian Mirror commented on this one week or so before the polling.

Other causes of SUPP’s defeat are due to the less number of postal votes (2,673) as compared with the previous one of slightly over 3,000 votes and also the transfer of more than 3,000 voters from Sibu parliamentary constituency to Lanang parliamentary constituency.

Implications of the defeat are aplenty. And the obvious one is that money is not the determining factor as far as the Chinese voters are concerned. The Chinese see that the giving of money during a by-election shows the government is not sincere in helping the people who have been suffering for decades.

“Why should we wait for a by-election for the Barisan Nasional to pour money into the constituency?” asked a retired civil servant.

In that case the people hoped that their MPs or DUN members either die or resign if they wanted development money and other “goodies”, he said ironically.

Secondly, the people are fed-up with the present State government and are looking for change. With the existence of a two party system, the people have a choice. If they do not like you, they will vote you out.

Politics of promise and lies cannot sustain in today’s election as the majority of voters now are young people who can identify between truths and lies. Threats and intimidation cannot work any more in a sophisticated and knowledgeable society.

For the Pakatan, the victory is considered extremely important badly needed to prod up its moral especially in the midst of resignations from PKR, a partner in the Pakatan.

Indeed the victory is an ample proof that the Pakatan has the support of the people. As Lim Kit Siang said, the victory is considered the first step in the Pakatan march towards Putrajaya.

Locally, the victory is seen as a barometer for the coming state election that may be called between now and May next year. At stake are the Chinese majority seats held by SUPP including seats of Pelawan and Bawang Assan in the Sibu Parliamentary constituency and nearby state seat of Dudong in the Lanang Parliamentary constituency. The other state seat of Bukit Assek in the Lanang constituency is already in the hands of DAP.

The tsunamic effect of this victory may also roll over down river to the state constituency of Repok in the Sarikei parliamentary constituency or even to Kuching, Bau, Sri Aman and Miri.

For the first time, the voters saw the formation of Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak announced before the by-election by DAP, PKR, PAS and SNAP working as a team as a possible alternative to the State Barisan Nasional Government.

For the Pakatan, this was the first time that they worked as one team and its strategy worked to its advantage.

While DAP concentrated its efforts to woo and “control” the Chinese voters throughout the campaign, PAS went all out to explain the policies of the Pakatan in the Malay kampongs.

Initially, PAS campaigners were refused entry by the house owners, but they came through the back door and were able to convey their message.

DAP lost heavily in the 2008 parliamentary election. But this time around the loss had been minimized to only 500 votes.

In the Iban longhouses, the PKR was given the task to campaign.

For decades, the people in the longhouses have never known any other parties except SUPP. In fact the DAP leaders have never set foot in these longhouses during election times. There was no alternative, but for the Ibans to vote for SUPP.

But in this by-election, at least the Ibans know there is an Opposition as its campaigners led by PKR Dayak leaders visited every single longhouse in the Rasau, Bawang Assan, Penasu and Pasai polling districts.

“Before only Malays and Chinese came to talk to us about politics,” said a woman whose age is about 70.

“You people are the first from the Opposition to visit us and talk to us about issues that affect,” she said.

It was not an easy task to campaign in these longhouses as they have been “brainwashed” by Barisan leaders through Radio and TV and have been fed with rosy stories, about politics of development, the development of native customary rights lands, the lies of the Opposition, and etc and etc.

But the visits made by the Opposition leaders such as Anwar Ibrahim, Daniel Tajem and Baru Bian to longhouses have helped to open up their minds and eyes to see the “truths” of their side of the stories.

For example, the issues on native customary rights land that has been seized by the government and has been leased to big companies for the planting of oil palm.

Tajem told them to defend their land as it is their most valuable asset. “Take away their land, the Ibans will be like fish without water. In other words, they will die,” he said.

Tajem warned them that if they continued to vote the Barisan Nasional then they were going to lose more of their land.

The Opposition campaigns in some of the longhouses had made the BN leaders more worried as a result the BN ministers made several visits to these longhouses not only to counter issues made by the Opposition leaders but also to make promises of monetary rewards.

For instance, after Anwar’s visit to Rumah Baseh in the Bawan Assan area, Deputy Prime Minister made a visit to the longhouse, and his visit was followed by visits of other Federal and State ministers.

Although the Pakatan candidate lost nearly 2,000 of the Iban votes, the voting percentage of the Ibans for Robert Wong has increased between 30 and 35 percent. Previously Robert Wong received almost next to nothing.

With the victory in the by-election, political awakening has slowly begun among the people. Nevertheless, Pakatan needs to work much harder in the coming election in order to waken the rural people from their deep political slumber.

As James Masing, president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak said that the rural constituencies will be the “battle ground” for the coming state election.

In other words, the road to Petrajaya in Kuching depends on who controls the rural constituencies.

Help us to catch the biggest crocodile

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng called on the people of Sibu to vote for Wong Ho Leng so that their voice will be heard in Parliament.

“Once elected, Wong will not be like any other BN Members of Parliament, who are scared of their UMNO masters. In Sarawak, he will not be scared of Abdul Taib Mahmud.

“Look at all SUPP MPs and DUN members, they are all scared of Taib Mahmud,” said Lim who is DAP secretary general in a political rally in Sibu last night (13 May).

Lim also told the voters that Sarawak is the richest State in the country, and one third of the Malaysia’s incomes come from Sarawak’s oil and gas.

Sarawak is also rich in timber and has plenty of land, and yet the people of this State especially the Ibans are the poorest in the country.

“Why are the people are poor, because there are many big crocodiles in Sarawak?

“Please help us to catch the biggest crocodile in the State by voting Wong Ho Leng into Parliament,” he said. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

‘Buy-election’ people first, after ‘buy-election’ people last?

Before and after the nomination day (8 May), the Sibu by-election has been turned into a ‘Sibu buy-election” when practically all federal ministers starting from Prime Minister Najib, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to ministers and to deputy ministers have come down to Sibu to show that they really care for the people of Sibu. State ministers including Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud have been overshadowed by their visits and their activities.

The Federal Minister of Agriculture talks of improving agriculture, Higher Education minister talks about higher education, rural development minister on rural development, minister of transport talks on airport extension programme, minister of health talks about upgrading Sibu Hospital to become tertiary and excellent centre, minister of youth and sports talks about talks about increasing sports faculties in Sibu, and so on and so forth. Some stay put from the nomination day until polling day. Prime Minister Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin visit Sibu twice in the eight-day of campaign.

These ministers, when they come to Sibu, bring with them some “goodies” such as fertilizers which are to be distributed to the poor farmers and promises of financial allocations for infrastructural development, schools, surau, masjid, repairs to longhouses, flood mitigations projects, and etc, etc.

The ministers’ favourite place is the central market where there are Iban, Chinese and Malay vegetable vendors, traders and small-time businessmen. They shake hands with the vegetable sellers. Some are trying to hold chickens wrapped in newspapers so that photographers will take pictures of them – just to show they are with the chicken sellers.

From all these programmes of activities, it seems that the ministers really treat people first performance now.

After the ‘buy-election’ they all disappear and the “buy-election” will become “bye-bye-election”. Promises forgotten and financial allocations never come. Suddenly the people become last, performance later – waiting perhaps for the next general election.

The Batang Ai ‘buy-election’ in April last year is a good example when people suddenly become last and performance never performed. During the campaign the people were first, performance now.

Now one year one month has gone and the promises left forgotten and unfulfilled. For example, the promise of tar-sealing roads in and around SALCRA plantations has not been fulfilled. The road to Ensawang village for example has not been tar-sealed until today. Roofing materials and the supply of clean water promised to this longhouse have never arrived. There are hundreds of longhouses have been cheated this way. Go to Batang Ai and ask the people there to prove my point.

What about the proposed road between Lemanak and Engkari which were supposed to cost more than RM70 million? And what about telecom towers? Even the promise of RM500 to each voter, if the BN candidate won, has not been received by them.

I understand the majority of the 110 longhouses in the Sibu parliamentary constituency is no different from other longhouses elsewhere – no piped water and supply of 24 electricity even though the main electrical wires pass over some of the longhouses.

For Sibu voters, especially the Iban voters, think first before you cast your votes. – The Broken Shield

Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/

Anwar’s message to Iban voters

SIBU: Anwar Ibrahim, Pakatan Rakyat Opposition leader, today reminded the Ibans that they will continue to lose their native customary rights (NCR) land if they continue to support the Barisan Nasional government.

“Many of you have already lost your land and will continue to lose your land if you continue to support the Barisan Government,” he said at Rumah Baseh’s 28-door longhouse, Bawang Assan.

“There are hundreds of court cases of NCR land being brought by the Ibans against the BN government as a result of their land being taken away and given to companies and their cronies,” he said.

“Don’t vote for the BN-SUPP candidate because SUPP is part and parcel of the State Government that has caused a lot of troubles to the Ibans.

“If you vote for the BN-SUPP candidate, you are courting trouble. Your rights over land have been taken away and forests around you have been cleared in order to make the BN leaders and their cronies richer,” Anwar stressed.

Anwar who was accompanied by the Pakatan-DAP candidate Richard Wong Ho Leng, told the Ibans to put a stop to this discriminatory policy of land grabbing.

He told them that it was important for them to vote for the Pakatan-DAP candidate, Richard Wong in order to send a strong message to the state government.

“Help us to help you protect your land,” he added.

“We must change this government and change must begin from this by-election,” Anwar said and assured the Ibans that under Pakatan government they would be treated fairly and their land would be protected.

The Pakatan government would not be corrupted like the BN government, he said.

Anwar arrived in Sibu on Saturday to help campaign for the Pakatan-DAP candidate in the by-election.

Iban voters who form about 20% of the 54,695 voters in the Sibu parliamentary constituency are regarded as “king maker” in the by-election scheduled for 16 May.

The by-election which was necessitated by the death of the MP for Sibu Robert Lau Hoi Chew on 9 April will see a three-cornered fight between Pakatan-DAP candidate, BN-SUPP Robert Lau Hui Jew and an independent, Narawi Haron.

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com