Sarawak, where is the road ahead?
In the run-up to recently concluded general election, the question has been addressed by our speakers repeatedly since day one of the meet-the-people session in Sibu. The crowd at our ceramahs responded overwhelmingly to the campaign theme of the national DAP "Just Change It" and my persoanl campaign theme "Change you can Believe In". The results on the 8th March told us that the people could not decide where the road ahead is as Sarawak DAP only won the Bandar Kuching seat and lost the other 6 seats that we contested.
Do we blame them? Or rather can we blame them? Both answers lie in the negative as the voters are the boss and they decide where they want to go and who to put their trust on. We can talk about money politics and all the dirty tactics that the BN poured on the people and the threats that were threw at the people, but it was still the decision of the voters or absenteeism (many did not turn-up) on polling day that matters.
The day after polling and when the results finally came through with the oppositions taking control of 5 states (Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan) and the Federal Territory, angry opposition supporters in Sarawak, in particularly in the central region of Sarawak, began cursing their fellow Sarawakian for voting against the wishes of most other fellow Malaysian in the west. The BN actually lost the popular vote in the west with only 49.65% of the total votes while the opposition secured 50.23% of the votes. The reality set in as the oppositions broke the BN’s 2/3 majority in the Parliament which made history and even more importantly they have secured the support of all the races in Malaysia, from the Malays to the Indians and even more particularly the Chinese.
Malaysian were taken aback by the news and it took them severally days to digest that they were not dreaming at all especially with the swearing-in of the Chief Minister of Penang that were broadcasted on RTM. Many cried when they saw the DAP’s secretary-general on TV, they were looking at history and they finally realized that 42 years after the formation of the DAP and after decades of unwavering support, they were able to see the fruits of the political struggle for a Malaysian-First Malaysia based on equality and fairness for all.
Chinese in particularly now see the wind of change and finally realized that their future in this country has never been so secured. They were not only angry at the BN’s Chinese based parties for their failure to stand up for what is fair and just and were particularly felt threatened by the extremists in UMNO for their verbal and physical aggression against the non-bumi in Malaysia in the last 10 years.
Sarawakian now are been thrown the ultimatum, where do we go from here? The future is in our own hands and the road ahead has been charted by the March 8th election. It is for us to grasp the opportunity of “change” and for us to walk down the path of “change” in the coming state election.
Malaysia also needs a vibrant civil society and an independent media. Without these two pillars of democracy, reform would not be possible. But we first need a strong opposition to start with, which we have achieved in the March 8th general election. Everything seems to be on the right track for the country at the moment and Sarawakian only need to jump on the bandwagon of “change” at the right time, i.e. the next state election.
David Wong
DAP Sarawak publicity sec.,
23-03-2008
5 comments:
Hey David, with the weight of history and the power of memory, I am sure the road ahead for Sarawak can only be for the better. Look at how Badawi’s administration is now desparately trying to win back the rakyat’s support, what with the call for declarations of ministers’ and assistant ministers’ assets and the drop from the cabinet, of the well known to be corrupted ministers and what nots. Yes, the attempts to clean up the corrupted backyard can be called feeble and skimpy but whether it can culminated into something successful or not depends very much on the consistency and persistency of pressure to be exerted on the government by the opposition. BTW, David, I have read some of your previous postings where you were understandably feeling very disillusioned by the whole election saga. But I think we should always keep in mind this quote by President Corazon Aquino -“The good we do is never lost. Some of it remains, if not in material goods, then in a deeper experience, a more practiced hand, and a spirit made stronger by that which failed to break it – stronger to meet greater challenges ahead.” So keep your spirits up.
We will never know. You have done your post mortem of the elections. Many Chineses are disillusioned by the MCA. Many Indians are disillusioned by the MIC. Many Malays are disillusioned by the UMNO. That accounts for the great changes found in West Malaysia. Sarawak is 44 years old, compared to West Malaysia which is 50 years old. There is a difference of 6 years. 50 years is needed to make West Malaysians bold enough to make changes happen. Before this, they clinged on every word their Barisan Nasional masters told them.
Former President Corazon is suffering from cancer now. But yes, if we are to remember her, I think we remember the good in her. When she wrestled with Marcos, they nearly went into a civil war. There was a great change in the country then. Philippines today is no less corrupted than those gone by years. May be for the time being, there are lessons to be learned from others and these lessons form part of the foundation.
Dear Wong, knowing you are currently doing external law degree and after this need to go for clp in order to quailifed yourself as an advocate and solicitor. But heard of clp? Please do something, read the following artciles and if you visit malaysianbar.org.my and search 'clp' within the page, you will find a lot artiles about clp, please do something in order not to be victimised in future for you and your children.
The link is belows:-
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/80838
Repost from Malaysiakini for your reading pleasure
Zaid, save us from 'merciless monster'
Disgruntled Malaysian | Apr 3, 08 4:53pm
Dear YB Zaid Ibrahim,
I would first like to congratulate you on your appointment as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. I am writing this letter with regard to the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examinations for graduates of law from overseas universities. I would guess you have received a lot of complaints about this issue, so I will try to be brief.
I am currently doing the CLP for the second time. In my first try, I passed three out of five subjects. But the rule states that I have failed the CLP and I have to do all five subjects again. This rule is really unfair to us and should be amended. It would be more understandable to require us to take the whole exam again if we had only passed one subject.
Another complaint is about the transparency in the marking of the papers. We are never given any feedback on what went wrong. The appeal mechanism provided by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board also does not seem to be functioning. I was told be one employee of the board over the phone that the board does not normally entertain any requests for appeals (This was a few days after I sent my letter of appeal, upon acting on the advice of that same person).
Hey David,
We have heard so much & read so much. However, non of those BORING stories has any real & direct meanings to the people in general, beside just kpoi shop chatting.
Generally, the people are more interested to know stories that has a direct effect on their ' cari-makan' well beings.
Can we get some real figures of the local economics, jobs & bussiness suituation ???
That's is beside the so call price's hike that everyone knew off, off cause.
Hope you can provide readers some realistic informations on these infor.
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