ANALYSIS: Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s announcement on Saturday that PBS can now expand its wings to Sarawak was a real shocker.
Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem was shocked; Parti Rakyat Sarawak president Dr James Masing was shocked; Adenan’s colleague in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Abang Johari Abang Openg was shocked; even PKR’s Chee See How was shocked.
Zahid was quoted as saying: “I knew it was important when the PBS president made the request (to enter Sarawak) to me as Home Minister as ROS is under my ministry.”
Why it was “important” for PBS to expand to Sarawak, only Zahid and PBS president Pairin Kitingan know!
But whatever the reason, it has to be very, very important – to Zahid, to Pairin and of course to BN, or rather Umno, that PBS be positioned in Sarawak.
“But PBS must be loyal to Barisan Nasional (BN),” Zahid had said.
What Zahid actually meant was PBS must be loyal to Umno and that PBS was being installed in Sarawak for specific purposes that Umno cannot itself do.
Today, Sarawakians of all races, religions and political affiliations are in one voice about wanting a Sarawak for Sarawakians.
Adenan is leading the Dayaks, Chinese, Malays, Indians and Serani, who call themselves Sarawakians, on a journey of statehood, aware of the fact that the Sarawak that decided to form the Federation of Malaysia on Sept 16 1963 was a far greater Sarawak than she is today.
Adenan says only Sarawakians know what is best for Sarawak. Outsiders, meaning anyone who is not a Sarawakian, cannot claim to be the champion of the Sarawak cause.
Sarawakians all agree with that. They agree that today Sarawakians are capable of administering and governing the state and her people like any Malayan thinks that he or she is capable of governing his or her respective states in Malaya.
So in the last few months, Adenan and Sarawakians have been asking Putrajaya for greater autonomy because Malayans have tried for more than 50 years to do things for Sarawak, but clearly they have failed – the roads are still not there, school infrastructure are lacking and many rural communities are without electricity and piped water.
Now Sarawakians are saying, we have come of age, our people are educated, we have the knowledge so, let us do it our way.
Sarawakians never said Sabahans could help us. Sarawak never said PBS could help us, so why and in what way would PBS’ existence in Sarawak politics be important to the state, or to the state BN or any component of the state BN?
How would PBS contribute to the political stability and wellbeing of Sarawak? How could it help to strengthen Adenan’s government? In what way could it help push Sarawak’s demand for autonomy and devolution of power? What sort of success has PBS achieved for Sabah in the matter of autonomy and devolution of power as per their 20-Point Agreement?
PBS is the Trojan horse of Umno politics. It is being positioned in Sarawak to gain power and to weaken the government of Adenan.
The manner Zahid announced his decision to empower PBS to enter Sarawak, without any consultation with the state’s political leaders, is downright disrespectful and an act of utter disregard for the moral rights of Sarawakians in deciding their political future.
Adenan is right when he said PBS will cause more confusion in the state which already has too many political parties.
But did Zahid ever think of that?
Or could that be why Zahid decided the way he did – to cause confusion among Sarawakians who have been too vocal about Sarawak for Sarawakians, autonomy and devolution of power?
Putrajaya is uncomfortable and jittery by a Sarawak that has awaken to the fact that she is being owed her honour and sovereign rights by the central government.
Adenan wants that honour and sovereign rights honoured. He is insisting on a fair measure of autonomy and for that to happen Putrajaya must allow for the return of some of the state’s original powers.
In this Adenan is not alone. He has the support every Sarawakian worth his or her salt.
The NGOs and the opposition parties want that autonomy and devolution of power as much as Adenan does.
He also has the support of all the component parties of the state BN – Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and PRS. Especially PRS, whose president minces no words in his call for a revisit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Solidarity among Sarawakians and within the state BN is making Umno nervous. The state’s demand for oil and gas royalty increase has even been passed by the state Cabinet.
Therefore, for how long can Putrajaya procrastinate on returning those powers back to Sarawak and giving the 20 per cent O&G royalty that Sarawak is demanding?
Today, Putrajaya has committed itself to Sarawak by the billions of ringgit, and Sarawak wants to see all that money in her coffers to begin the catch-up game made necessary by a central government’s incompetence of more than 50 years.
Putrajaya has also given its words that it is willing to consider that autonomy, devolution of power and the 20 per cent% O&G royalty from the meagre 5 per cent that Sarawak has been getting.
Is Putrajaya back paddling on all those? Is that why it is “important” for PBS to be installed in Sarawak?
And why PBS and not any other BN parties?
Simply because PBS has been Umno’s most effective tool in neutralising the power of the Kadazandusun in Sabah. Simply because PBS is not part of the Borneonisation programme. Simply because PBS is damn good in being silent on many issues that Sabahans want resolved while Umno does whatever the Malayan party wants to do in Sabah.
Pairin today is leading a party that has no political stand of its own. He has been described as a stooge of, or “pak turut’ to, Umno.
A former party colleague of his, Fredoline Edwin Lonjinki, even accused him of being “spineless and colluding with Umno” to perpetuate injustice against Sabahans, including the Kadazandusun and Murut.
In return, he and his followers are being rewarded with positions and offices but without all the powers that should go with these positions.
Consequently, Pairin and PBS are a total disappointment to the Kadazandusun, who have lost much their ancestral land, even as the issue of the illegal immigrant and the Royal Commission of Inquiry (into Sabah’s migrant issues), of which he is chairman, threatens to expose where his politics actually lies – with Sabahans or Putrajaya.
Pairin did say that PBS was re-joining the BN so that the problem of illegal immigrants could be resolved. How near is Pairin in achieving this dream?
No matter, as far as Umno is concerned, what Pairin and PBS have failed to do for Sabahans they have certainly accomplished for Putrajaya.
And that is why PBS must go to Sarawak because given its “success” in Sabah, that same “success” can very well be repeated in Sarawak.
Umno can’t go to Sarawak. Prime Minister Najib Razak has given his word Umno will not ever do that; Zahid too.
So Zahid gets Pairin and PBS to do the job for BN alias Umno alias Putrajaya – Pairin and PBS and their so-called politics of “moderation and multiracialism to tackle extremism”.
What did Pairin and PBS do to make Umno less extreme? Did they do anything at all to counter Umno’s ‘ketuanan Melayu’?
It’s as if PBB’s politics is extreme; or Masing’s PRS is not multiracial enough, therefore, PBS, which is claiming to “fight for all races” but can’t even defend the rights of Kadazandusun to their native customary land, is coming to save Sarawakians!
The only success Pairin has achieved to date is save his own political life. He continues to hold office – minus the power, though – while his own people are downtrodden, exploited and fast losing their face and identity among millions of naturalised foreigners.
Sarawakians must consolidate no matter regardless of race or religion. Our ultimate struggle must be Sarawak for Sarawakians.
Adenan must lead the way. He must show he is good for all Sarawakians. Umno will be kept out and its spineless ‘pak turut’ PBS will be rejected if the Malays, Chinese and Dayaks are in solidarity.
The majority of Malays adore Adenan. Never mind about the handful of Malays who envy him because he gets to be the Chief Minister.
He has also won the hearts of many Chinese, now all he needs to do is seriously convince the Dayaks, especially the Ibans, he is their chief minister as well.
Yang Amat Berhormat Chief Minister, you can win the Dayaks over. There is no need for formula. There is no magic or politics involved.
All you need to do is just say you want the ustaz from Kelantan out of that school, Dayaks and Christians will believe you.
Maybe it’s Sarawak’s turn – and yours – to shock outsiders, who covet the socio-economic wealth of the state and its political dynamics, out of their wet dream.-The Ant Daily
