COMMENT In Malaysia, a politician who loses in national or state elections will have to sit it out for about five years before trying again. This is what some top leaders of the Sarawak United People Party (SUPP) are doing right now.
Alfred Yap Chin Loi, Sim Kheng Hui, Lily Yong and Chan Seng Khai are among many who are missing from the corridors of power.
After the last Sarawak state election, they were replaced by DAP members. Unfortunately, despite their impressive victories, the DAP representatives are also outside the decision-making circle.
More insulting still, the Barisan Nasional administration treats them as enemies rather than partners in government. That is just a fact of Malaysian political life.
It looks as though it will not be long before the Chinese community is completely excluded from the state administration. One day there will not be a single Chinese representative in the decision-making circle.
Who then will protect their interest?
Many people are actually happy about this. It is a welcome development to those who accuse Chinese assemblymen of being aloof from their non-Chinese constituents and unconcerned about their needs.
The result of the recent Sibu by-election has deeply disappointed BN supporters. Many are now openly demanding that the Prime Minister reconsider allocating funds for the Chinese community.
A similar call was made some years ago. Sibu has somewhat reignited the issue.
"PM has given them (the Chinese) nearly RM20 million, but BN is facing difficulty building a RM500,000 surau for the Malays of Sibu,” a senior politician was heard grumbling. “Why must we continue wasting our time trying to please people who never say thank you?”
More often than not, BN overlooks its loyal supporters among the natives in its eagerness to win over the Chinese. Many natives are openly asking BN to change this attitude. Despite all the money poured in to develop urban areas, they say, Chinese votes rarely go to BN.
They are demanding that BN divert the larger part of its funds to rural infrastructure development.
Normally, BN decisions are made collectively, involving leaders from the various communities who have been elected to the state assembly. I cannot imagine what platform the Chinese will stand on to fight for their share in development if the worst does happen this coming election.
Continuing slide
I honestly feel that SUPP is heading for oblivion. There is no stopping the slide in support. The Chinese no longer see anything good in the party. They are openly backing DAP and it is just a matter of time before SUPP is wiped out.
DAP’s great advantage is that it is good at finding faults. It demonises SUPP for BN’s shortcomings and rides on the people’s dissatisfaction with the government of the day. It is also blessed with articulate leaders who can turn small problems into giant issues.
I have friends among Chinese grassroots leaders from BN. They tell me how they are often hampered by lack of funds in trying to solve community problems. This is partly because many urban areas are now under the opposition.
In Malaysian politics, you do not expect kindness between political rivals.
I do not think that BN will ever accept DAP as a member of the coalition, considering the kind of attacks it has been making on the Sarawak BN leadership.
Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak pact is a loose coalition. It will need a miracle if it intends to win more than 10 seats in the coming state election.
Love-hate relationship
Let me begin with the love-hate relationship between PKR and DAP.
Former DAP candidates in Repok and Pelawan—Kung Chin Chin and Ting Chek Miing—are now PKR leaders. PKR Sarikei’s former boss, Wong Hua Seh, is now a DAP man. This game of musical chairs is just one indication of the tense relationship between the two.
They will also fight over the right to contest in Padungan, Batu Kawah and Batu Lintang.
Meanwhile, DAP in Batu Lintang is in crisis. Its elected representative, Voon Lee Shan, is currently suspended from the state assembly.
The DAP-PKR partnership is also being severely tested by the legal battle between the Chong family and Dominique Ng.
With such a strained relationship, I doubt that PKR and DAP will be able to work together. Just look at the episode involving Wee Choo Keong and his former DAP bosses in the peninsula.
Even if DAP and PKR manage to settle their problems and agree to work as a coalition in the coming election, they still won’t be able to deny BN its two-thirds majority because there are probably only 11 Chinese majority seats.
Pakatan Rakyat in Sarawak may be able to clean sweep Chinese seats but not the bumiputera constituencies. This is because it lacks quality bumiputera leaders. It has been forced to depend on BN rejects.
Pakatan leaders and members rejoiced when Gabriel Adit joined the party, but he left not long afterwards. Sarawak PKR is led by Baru Bian, formerly of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS). His deputy is Wan Zainal Abidin Wan Senusi a former PERMAS and PBB man. Jimmy Donald, a vice-chief, was Baru’s rival in PBDS.
The coming election promises to be just like 1999, when scores of Dayaks joined PKR and contested on the party’s ticket. Instead of preparing for a serious fight against BN, many ambitious Pakatan leaders will be quarrelling with each other over the right to contest.
It is an open secret that Sarawak PKR is divided into two main groups. The jostling for the right to contest in the state election is likely to cause a further break.
No comments:
Post a Comment