KUALA LUMPUR – There will be no new dawn for Sarawak come polling day this Saturday, as analysts cynically noted that the state election is merely a game of musical chairs among political elites.
Political analyst Prof James Chin said it is a game played to discern who gets to keep the chief minister position, and which individual will be moving to the state governor’s chair shortly.
“Most people do not realise their appointment as governor is only for five years.
There is a big restructuring of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu at the moment. (Tan Sri) Abang Johari (Openg) did not get a personal mandate, he became chief minister by accident when the previous chief minister passed away.
“Therefore, he is in the process of moving his own people in. It is very much a game among the elites,” he said during a virtual forum organised by education consultancy firm Malaysiana LCMS.
Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, social activist Peter Kallang, and pro-tem president and founder of Parti Aspirasi Sains Malaysia Kenneth Chai were present at the forum as well.
Chin – also a professor at University of Tasmania – said it is almost impossible to put a stop to the “patron-and-client” relationship developed between representatives of the ruling party and rural Sarawakians within their respective constituencies.
“The reason why it is very difficult to dislodge the government is because unless you can break the link between ordinary villagers and the people who are their patrons, it’s almost impossible.
“One hurdle that the opposition finds very difficult to overcome in both Sabah and Sarawak is the issue of money politics.
“Elections there (in Sabah and Sarawak) are not as they are understood in Peninsular Malaysia. An election is once every four or five years – people come around and there are endless beer parties, endless roast pork, endless everything.
“I can say this openly: this year’s Christmas is the best they will have had in a very long time because of the amount of money being thrown around to voters to support them (the candidates),” he said.
Rural communities under ‘thug-ocrasy’
Rewcastle-Brown shared Chin’s sentiments, saying the polls are irrelevant and that it is pointless to talk about politics when what is needed is law enforcement against leaders and politicians involved in corruption.
She told the forum that as a federal government, Putrajaya has failed to properly conduct its duties and deal with abusers, criminal mismanagement, and kleptocracy.
The people who are running the country have not been winning elections for 50 years because of their policies, or clever tactics. They have been winning because they have been abusing their power.
“There has to be awareness of what is really going on. Peninsular Malaysia, the federal government, and the Borneo states have to start implementing the law,” she said.
She said rural communities in Sarawak are held hostage, adding that they are under a “thug-ocrasy” – left with no choice but to accept what is given to them.
Rewcastle-Brown said a radical social agenda capable of redistributing income to the people is needed. She alleged that resources owned by them have instead been utilised to finance the ruling elite, who are running the state corruptly.
Rewcastle-Brown did not reserve criticisms solely for politicians, as she also made a scathing observation of the situation between Sarawakian voters and their Peninsular Malaysia counterparts.
“Awareness needs to come not only to those benighted voters who are so easily swayed by a bowl of pork – it is actually Peninsular Malaysians who need to understand that Sarawak hasn’t got a hope of reform for a decent government until Peninsular Malaysia enforces the law on those abusing power in the state,” she stressed.
Trickle-down economics doesn’t work
Meanwhile, Chai said it is evident that decades of trickle-down economics do not work.
Instead, he said, a guaranteed monthly income should be given to every deserving household to enable organic development.
Citing the Julau community – which resides in some of the most interior regions of the state – as an example, Chai said businesses would be flocking to the area if each household obtains RM2,000 a month.
“All this disposable income will translate into food, quality education, and paying taxes to the local government. You put the money where the people will spend them, not to the rich where they would hoard them.
“More development will be organic once there is a real economy in the communities to begin with. Unless we do something to get them on their feet, nothing is going to change,” he said. – The Vibes, December 15, 2021
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