It is possible, if you look at DAP’s preparations, even though the rural constituencies have been the state BN’s strongholds for the past 52 years.
DAP is putting some Dayak professionals in key positions in the party to help penetrate the “fixed deposits”.
Moreover, with political sentiments becoming more muddled, it is also banking its hopes on the urban and rural people’s awareness of their rights.
The people know they have suffered due to Umno policies such as the implementation of goods and services tax (GST), the flip-flop education policies, the depreciation of the ringgit resulting in Sarawakians paying higher prices of goods and the unfair treatment of Sarawak by the federal government, especially in respect of the 2016 budget.
For the Dayaks, they should know that they have been marginalised, that their customary rights have been taken away from them and that they still remain one of the poorest in the country.
They should know that they have suffered due to lack of basic amenities such as roads, clinics, schools, water and electricity in their longhouses.
All these should help change the mindset of the people towards the BN.
The DAP is encouraged by the growing support of the Dayaks in past elections. Soon after GE13, it started to organise itself to go rural and set up several rural service centres to “educate” the rural people on the real issues that affect their daily lives.
It is definitely on the path of transformation from an urban-based party into a more all-round urban-rural party with more than a handful of rural party offices.
It has made a lot of progress through its “Impian Sarawak” projects which were implemented in longhouses or villages that were ignored by the state government. Despite the limited resources as an opposition party, its programmes have apparently benefited many people in the rural areas.
So far it has conducted 25 English learning and reading camps, held five medical camps, constructed 14 gravity feed water projects, built two major roads, six building structures and three jetties or wharves and installed two solar lighting systems.
It now has rural service centres in Mambong, Bau, Sri Aman, Betong, Sungai Asap, Belaga, Song, Kapit and Lawas. Soon, we will have service centres in Kakus, Julau, Kanowit and Sibuti.
“It is undoubted that our rural drive is now winning the confidence of the Dayak community,” said State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
“This is evident with the entry of 12 Dayak professionals and intellectuals into the party last week,” he said at the party’s 17th convention on Nov 8 in Kuching.
Chong is confident that more will be joining the party in the near future.
He knows it is a herculean task to win the rural seats, but it is not an impossible one especially with more Dayaks and Dayak professionals joining the party.
“If we want to bring real change for a better Sarawak, we need not only urban support but also rural support,” said the Kota Sentosa assemblyman and the MP for Bandar Kuching.
“Together we change,” he added, pointing out that the future of Sarawak lies in the hands of both the urban and the rural voters.
Chong regards the coming state election as the yardstick for the next parliamentary elections as it will determine the survival of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
If the Sarawak BN does not do better than the last state polls, forces within BN will surely blame him for the loss of their “fixed deposit” rural seats and compel Najib to resign.
“(But) if Sarawak BN does better than the last state elections, Najib will stay on till the next general elections and beyond, confident that Sarawak will remain the “fixed deposit” state of BN forever,” said Chong.
On Chief Minister Adenan Satem, he said while he appeared to be a good leader for the moment, “it is the system of check and balance that we want to establish, not a system whereby the people’s rights depend on the whims and fancies of an individual leader”.
“What DAP wants to see is to make sure the state government does not return to the era of the former chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.
“This we must stop with the help of the rural people,” Chong said.-The Ant Daily (Joseph Tawie)
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