Run up 10th Sarawak state election

Matt Siow 4/15/2011 0

After 10 days campainging period by contesting parties and candidates, Sarawakians will decide their 'Future' by casting vote on tomorrow.

Sarawak has 71 state assembly seats comprising 27 Malay/Melanau seats, 20 Iban seats, 15 Chinese seats, 6 Bidayuh seats and 3 Orang Ulu seats

A keen contest is expected in 29 seats during the Sarawak state elections, according to a prediction by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political scientist Faizal Syam Hazis.

Faizal (left) believes that all 15 Chinese-majority seats, seven Iban-majority seats, three Malay-Melanau-majority seats, two Bidayuh-majority seats and two Orang Ulu-majority seats “might swing either way”.

Seats to watch


Chinese voter dissatisfaction is deep and could persist and spread to the northern part of Sarawak as indicated by the recent Sibu by-election and a recently concluded Merdeka Centre survey where only 21.5 percent of Chinese respondents indicated their support towards the BN.

It is thus expected that the opposition will retain the seven Chinese seats that they won in 2006 and gain four more, namely Repok, Dudong, Pelawan and Pujut.

All four of these seats except for Pujut were won by the BN with less than a 1000 vote-majority. By securing eleven out of fifteen Chinese seats, the opposition (especially DAP) would severely undermine the dominance of the ruling party and seriously question the future of SUPP.

Hot seats




Change for better
We definitely need to show who is the one who has rights to decide the government of the day, not the other way round. Say no to BN 'fixed deposit' state.

The Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has hold the position for 30 years with alleged wrong doing.

For years now, coffee shop black humour has glossed CMS, one of Sarawak’s most prominent companies and one linked to the chief minister’s family, as Chief Minister & Sons. Its interests range from cement and steel to construction and finance – and that isn’t the full measure of its network of linked companies.

It has always been taken as emblematic of the concentration of wealth and power and of the ties between politics and business.

Politics of development
In rural areas, the so-called “politics of development” is in fact the politics of fear of deprivation and the politics of disempowerment.

The great success of this “politics of development” has been to convince rural voters that they are totally dependent upon government, even for goods and services they used to provide for themselves.

Selective withdrawal of services and projects when an area votes the “wrong” way has served to drive home the point.

The prove:
Sensing the fragility of Belaga, the Prime Minister made a pre-election visit there in January 2011 when he dished out RM100 million worth of development projects (Sarawak Tribune, 18 January 2011).

On top of that, PM Najib announced that the government would write off the remaining RM41 million housing loan involving 1500 families at the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme (Free Malaysia Today, 17 January 2011).

This act of rampant vote-buying just shows how insecure the ruling party is in Belaga.

A voter has claimed that he received RM20 from BN campaigners who visited his house at Kampung Baru Sri Aman in the Lingga state constituency this afternoon (April 15).


Where is EC to take action on open vote buying?

BN desperate?

April 14
> 8.45pm: Still at Repok, Koh Tsu Koon tries to persuade voters to support the 75-year-old incumbent Repok candidate David Teng, whose 32-year hold on the seat has been made an issue by the opposition. Gerakan made first in-roads to Sarawak to save SUPP!

> 10.15pm: Sibu - The SUPP ceramah quickly turns into popular singer Michael Wong's concert, with the crowd of 3,000. Since when the singer become your BN member?

April 15 (today)

> 6pm: Sibu - OCPD Shafie Ismail is called in to settle the dispute between SUPP and DAP over their ceramah tonight. Local popular singer Nicholas Teo is invited by SUPP tonight, to perform at the meet the candidate function.

Latest update: Crowd in Kuching for Pakatan finale grows to 20,000 (8.30pm - 9.30pm)

This is enough. We need a better future for rakyat Sarawak and Malaysia. Party that is full of cronies and lies should be rejected after all.

Pek moh should be thrown out and vote Pakatan Rakyat and SNAP for a better future from tomorrow.

Jom ubah!!



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