COMMENT: One of the more exciting and eagerly anticipated features of the last Sarawak state election in 2011 were the nightly ceramahs organised by the opposition DAP during the 10-day campaign period.
They were held at strategic locations around the suburbs of the main towns, and were so well attended that estimates of up to 20,000 people of all races and ages had turned up. During collection times when the hat was passed around for public donations, figures of up to RM25,000 per night were regular counts.
Although the majority of the speakers spoke in Mandarin and the local vernacular dialects of Hokkien, Teochew and Hakka, many of their speakers were also bi- or even tri-lingual and could amaze their audience with their skills in the different tongues. English and Bahasa Malaysia were widely used as well.
The appeal for the audience was the freedom of speech which had verged on the scandalous and the unsubstantiated mudslinging of major political figures, their families and cronies.
The main attraction at that time and the biggest target was of course none other than Taib Mahmud who had by then served 30 years as the chief minister during his seven TERMS in office.
According to a Wikipedia write-up, it was speculated that the DAP’s major campaign centred upon this one main issue – “the long tenure of Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his refusal to resign and appoint a successor. Also his alleged amassing of a huge fortune while in office and the lack of transparency and ACCOUNTABILITY on the awarding of several large infrastructure contracts – without notice or an open tender.”
Other pertinent issues then included fuel hikes, land leases, state government contracts, open tenders, and the perception that one race had monopolised all businesses as well as the staffing in the government sector.
For DAP their ‘bogeyman’ was an easy one – the chief minister at the time, Taib Mahmud.
Today, almost five years later, with the next state elections due by June 2016, and widely speculated will be held in March next year, DAP is finding it extremely difficult to look for a new bogeyman to replace the one they had in 2011 – as the 20-month old ‘new’ chief minister Adenan Satem has proven himself to be very popular among their targeted audience, the urban Chinese as well as the mandarin educated and the business circles.
Yes, they could tar and associate him with Taib Mahmud, for after all, wasn’t he personally handpicked and appointed to the office by him? Wasn’t he for a time his brother-in-law too when he was married to his (Taib Mahmud’s) sister?
Didn’t they both go through the same career path, coupled with similar tenure as federal minister? Although one’s a Melanau and the other a Malay, they both worship in the same mosque.
At the very most, DAP can still use the “bogeyman by association” battle cry by harping on the fact that although their old target is no longer the chief minister, he still remains a giant in his position as the governor and is still speculated to be the ‘puppet master’.
If DAP is smart enough, they should target a new bogeyman by now. I venture to suggest that this new target doesn’t come from Sarawak, but is the kingpin and the one politician that no one has been able to bring down so far, despite the many open attacks and condemnation from all quarters. I have no need to spell out his name.
The problem now for DAP is that four months is a long time in politics – as between now and March 2016 anything could happen. Anything that swings either way politically would not be good for DAP and their future ceramahs, as all the old excitement would have been lost without the vigorous and vibrant attacks on their old nemesis.
But I daresay that even without these ceramahs, it is very unlikely that DAP’s popular support among their hardcore members and supporters could sway or be reduced overnight. They look set to retain all their 12 seats and may even win another two or three new ones. The fence sitters and the swing votes away from them would not be enough to unseat them anytime soon, as we have seen that many of Adenan’s recent promises and pledges have yet to see the light of day.-The Ant Daily
Post a Comment