COMMENT Will Sibu’s Chinese join hands with their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia and support the opposition coalition when they vote tomorrow?
The Chinese account for nearly 67% of Sibu’s 54,695 voters. Most of them belong to the Foochow and Hakka dialect groups, but the Foochows predominate in local economic and social life. It is therefore not surprising that the two main contenders in the by-election are both Foochows. SUPP’s Robert Lau Hui Yew is fighting for BN and DAP’s Richard Wong Ho Leng for Pakatan.
Sarawak’s Foochows are well-known for their business acumen, said to be inherited from their forefathers who started settling in the area in the early 1900s, although some researchers say some Foochow groups had already arrived in the 11th century.
There is no doubt that their economic success is due to their industriousness and work ethics, but BN’s political patronage has played a large part in producing notably wealthy and influential Foochow leaders.
One example was the late Lau Hoi Chew, whose death occasioned tomorrow’s by-election. His family owns the KTS group of companies, which includes the world’s largest timber firm. The Laus also control two major newspapers — Oriental Daily and Borneo Post.
Other rich Foochows include Tiong Hiew King, who controls Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily, and TK Wong of the WTK group of companies.
Will the Sibu by-election prove to be a turning point for BN or Pakatan?
If took five decades or 10 general elections for the Peninsular Chinese to wake up and tell BN they had had enough of its bad governance. Will Sibu’s Chinese do the same tomorrow?
It is perhaps presumptuous to remind the pragmatic Foochows that they should not sacrifice the interest of future generations for short-term gains. But it may be appropriate to caution them against thinking that they are different and separate from the Peninsular Chinese. They are under the rule of the same federal government, and Sibu is a parliamentary seat.
They have to decide whether the SUPP slogan — To Reform — is credible by taking BN’s track record into consideration, or whether the DAP's rallying cry —To Change (the government of the day) — is more inspiring.
Perhaps they should recall the story of the rat trap, which goes like this:
One day a rat peeped through a cracked wall and saw the farmer and his wife opening a package.
“There must be a lot of food in there,” he thought, but what came out of the package was a rat trap instead.
Shocked, the rat retreated and ran about the farm, warning the other animals about the trap. “There is a rat trap in the house,” he screamed.
The chicken clucked and said, “Excuse me! I can see it is a grave problem to you, but it is of no consequence to me. The trap doesn’t bother me. It is not my problem.”
The moral is...
All the other animals — the cow, the pig, the goat — ignored the rat’s warning. The cow, for example, was not bothered because it thought it was too big for the trap to be of any danger to it.
One night, a noise from the trap roused the farmer’s wife from her sleep. She went to investigate and was bitten by a snake caught in the trap. She fell ill.
The farmer decided to cook chicken soup for his sick wife, believing it would relieve her of her fever. And so, the chicken was slaughtered.
Many villagers visited the sick woman and the farmer had to kill the pig to feed them.
The farmer’s wife eventually died, and he had to slaughter the cow and the goat to feed the villagers at the funeral.
The moral of the story is that the next time you hear that someone has a problem, do not assume that it does not concern you.
If the Foochow and the Hakka Chinese think that the problems of the Peninsular Chinese do not concern them, they must think again — about the chicken, the pig, the cow and the goat.
The Chinese in Sarawak must continue to cherish the values and dignity of their forefathers and set these against the tyranny and corruption around them.
The Foochows should ask themselves why, after 47 years of Sarawak being part of Malaysia, BN is still begging for votes from the rural poor.
Developing Sibu or Sarawak is the duty of the BN state and federal governments and should not be a gift from Santa Claus, who comes around only when there is an election.
Stanley Koh is a Free Malaysia Today contributor.
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