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For some 2008 will have been their best year and for others not so good. Either way you need to take a break every now and then and this is a great time to do it.

Thank you for all your support this year. I appreciate every comment and all the feedback that I get. Without you there would be no blog.

May 2009 be your best year ever.

Sarawak's renewed political hopes

By Sim Kwang Yang
editor@thenutgraph.com
16 Dec 08 : 8.00AM

Illustration of Dayak people, dated 1864 (Public domain; source: Wikipedia.org)

SARAWAK'S Dayaks seldom feature with any significance in the national imagination of Malaysia, and certainly do not make headlines in the national media. This reflects the political marginalisation of the Dayaks in their home state.

The Dayaks collectively make up nearly half the state's population, and by the logic of communal politics, they should dominate politics in Sarawak. They did, briefly, during the early years of Merdeka, when their political vehicle was the Sarawak National Party, or SNAP. The president of the party then, Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan — an Iban — was the first chief minister of Sarawak, serving from July 1963 to September 1966. He was removed from office by a federally initiated Declaration of Emergency and a constitutional amendment resulting from a protracted constitutional crisis. Since 1970, the office of the chief minister has been held by two Melanau Muslims.

The dream of Dayak leaders since has been the restoration of what they consider their political glory: the installation of a Dayak chief minister. Formed in 1983 as a splinter group from SNAP, the Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was the vehicle for this mission. The PBDS applied and was accepted as a member of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

In the Ming Court affair of 1987, the PBDS left the BN and joined forces with Persatuan Rakyat Malaysia Sarawak (Permas) to form the opposition Maju alliance. They mounted a credible challenge to the BN in the subsequent state elections, but failed to dislodge Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud from office. Campaigning on the nationalist slogan of Dayakism, they won 15 seats, but eight of their elected representatives then defected to join SNAP and Taib's Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).

After another unsuccessful election in 1991, the PBDS finally ran out of gas and rejoined the BN in 1994.

More power struggles

A power struggle within SNAP in 2002 led to its deregistration and the formation of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), which was registered three days after application.

In 2004, there was another power struggle, this time within the PBDS, following the retirement of their long-serving president, Tan Sri Leo Moggie. Like SNAP, the PBDS was also deregistered; the new splinter, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), was formed and registered on the same day. One year later, there was an open acrimonious power struggle within the PRS, and it was resolved only after April 2008.

Tan Sri Leo Moggie (Source: uniten.edu.my) You have to wonder at the power and efficiency of the Registrar of Societies over the fate of political parties. Does this suggest that there are unseen federal government hands working in collusion with the Sarawak chief minister?

And if you've had the patience to follow this tale of Dayak politics in Sarawak thus far, what kind of impression would you now have of Dayak politicians?

Many of these Dayak politicians are my long-time personal friends, and I would cringe to criticise them in public. I also have a lot of respect for many well-known Dayak leaders, especially Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem. Whatever his faults may be, he has shown tremendous strength of character and personal integrity in his long and difficult political career.

Nevertheless, one has to painfully conclude that in the evolution of Dayak politics, personal ambition, vested interests, and the inability to forge consensus have fractured and destroyed one Dayak political vehicle after another. Today, they are divided into so many miniscule Dayak parties that they have no hope of realising the dream of having a Dayak chief minister. The nationalist spirit of Dayakism has been all but self-extinguished.

That is a pity. The Dayaks are now wallowing in socioeconomic backwardness, and some consider themselves third-class citizens after the Malay-Melanau Sarawakians and the Chinese Sarawakians. Hundreds of thousands of Dayak youths have left their homes in search of better job prospects in Singapore and West Malaysia, leaving the old and the very young in the longhouses. The rural communities have been stripped of their youthful forces for regeneration. In pockets of abject poverty, alcoholism is rife.

Sarawak's new dawn?

Recently though, the Dayak community among the educated class and the longhouse folk have been humming with a new kind of excitement.

Slightly more than a month ago, during a dinner in Sibu organised by Friends of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), 4,000 people of all races turned up to welcome Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. They were also witness to a public ceremony in which Gabriel Adit Demong, the current independent Ngemah state assemblyperson and former vice-president of the now-defunct PBDS, submitted his application to join the PKR. His application form was accompanied by 12,000 others.

Another mammoth 6,000-strong sit-down dinner was planned for 14 Dec 2008 in Miri. The grand finale should culminate in Kuching on 19 Dec, where 8,000 people are expected to turn up to welcome Anwar. The people of Sarawak are now stretching their necks forward to see whether there will be more elected representatives and Dayak voters joining the PKR.

The term of the present Sarawak state assembly will not expire until 2011. There is current speculation, however, that the next state elections may be held as early as 2009. The success of the PKR in the 8 March 2008 general election has made the party attractive to Dayak politicians and their supporters. (© Tryatna Anto / Dreamstime)

But the PKR is a multiracial party. It would mean that the PKR and Dayakism are mutually exclusive. Perhaps the brand of Dayakism portrayed by the PBDS ought to be laid to rest anyway. Only by building meaningful bridges with other ethnic communities can the Dayaks lift themselves from their political and socioeconomic limbo. In that context, the PKR is indeed a suitable vehicle for the redemption of Dayak politics.

To dethrone Taib and replace the Sarawak BN as the next state government, there must be a congruence of all opposition forces within the state. The divisive bickering between opposition blocs must now indeed end for a new dawn of democracy in the Land of the Hornbill.

The Dayaks of Sarawak will then make headlines again

Hostile takeover

AS HEADMAN, Ladon anak Edieh allowed a state agency to start an agriculture pioneering project on his community’s land in Sungai Bawan in the Mukah division of Sarawak.

That was in the mid-1970s when the Sarawak Land Development Board (SLDB) introduced one of the earliest oil palm cultivation schemes on Iban communal land.

Rumah Ladon (Iban longhouses are named after the headmen) and 21 other longhouse communities agreed to the project, based on the official guarantee that respected their native customary rights (NCR) over the land.

The communities were duly consulted and SLDB even conducted rituals according to the people’s adat in obtaining consent for use of the land.

In 1975, it was agreed that a tasih (a token sum) of RM50 per acre for a total area of 9,800 acres for a period of 25 years was to be paid by SLDB. The villagers understood that the land would be returned to them upon expiry of the lease in 2000.

The Ibans of Sungai Bawan, Mukah, Sarawak, protesting the alienation of their land. The communities of 22 longhouses later filed a suit, naming the Sarawak State Government among the defendants. – Picture courtesy of WONG MENG CHUO

Years later, the villagers discovered that the Sarawak government issued a new provisional lease in 1989 to SLDB that not only covered the land cultivated by SLDB but extended over the longhouses, burial grounds and communal farmlands. This time around, there was no consultation, compensation nor were there any measures taken to extinguish the villagers' rights in accordance with the Sarawak Land Code.

Ladon’s son, Ambun, like others from the other longhouses, discovered that the land had been sold to an entity called Sarawak Plantation Agriculture Development Sdn Bhd (SPAD).

New seedlings were planted by SPAD but the company did not reply to letters from the communities – not until they erected a blockade in November 2005.

“When we put up the blockade, we were arrested and put in the police lock-up. Eleven of us were detained for two weeks, some were even re-arrested,” recalled Ambun.

A suit was filed in March last year against SLDB, the Superintendent for Lands and Surveys for Mukah Division and the State Government.

Ambun was one of three community leaders from the Iban tribe who attended the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The Sungai Bawan Ibans’ experience appears to be the norm in Sarawak, as documented in the report Land is Life: Land Rights and Oil Palm Development in Sarawak launched at the RSPO meeting.

The report revealed more than 100 legal cases where indigenous people are suing the government and companies for violations of their customary land rights. Over one-third of these cases involve oil palm development.

One of the four authors, Sarawak researcher Wong Meng Chuo, said the abuses committed by oil palm development by both state and private entities contradicted the standards developed under the RSPO initiative.

The report concluded that if Sarawak palm oil is not to be excluded from international markets, major changes in laws, policies and practices are required.

Communities in Kalimantan, Indonesia, are facing similar problems of land grabbing. Indonesian legislation classifies the ancestral domain as state-owned forests and the state retains control over the land.

Asmara Syahputra, 23, told a press conference organised by Sawit Watch that a RSPO member started planting on his communal land in 1996. When the community of Dayak Banuaq in Kutai Barat, Kalimantan sought to regain their land, they were intimidated, arrested and subjected to inhuman treatment.

Similar testimonies were made by four other indigenous representatives from other parts of Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Nurbaya Zulhakim of Jambi said RSPO should learn from the experiences of timber certification schemes that failed to address land tenure disputes.

Sawit Watch has, until mid-2007, registered 500 cases of communities facing encroachment upon their lands by oil palm companies.

Leading 10 other local NGOs and one foreign group, Sawit Watch had submitted a request last August, to a United Nations agency charged with eliminating racial discrimination, seeking its intervention in the eroded rights of indigenous people in Kalimantan.

The request was submitted in relation to plans to establish oil palm plantation along 850km of the Indonesia-Malaysia border as part of the Kalimantan Border Oil Palm Mega Project. This area is part of the traditional territories of Kalimantan’s Dayak community.

Being very much self-regulatory in nature, the RSPO is regarded as just the first step. RSPO president Jan-Kees Vis acknowledged that it was impossible to resolve all outstanding conflicts as “we don’t have all the answers”.

However, the 198-member grouping has listed “engaging the governments” as a challenge to move forward. - The Star Online

Sarawak NCR landowners protest company let-down

Tony Thien | Dec 5, 08 10:48am

Owners of native customary rights (NCR) land, representing more than 220 people from two Iban longhouses in Ulu Niah, Miri, protested in front of the Kuching High Court yesterday.

Holding up placards, the group of about 100 expressed anger over the failure of a plantation company to honour its promises to them.

They had signed a joint venture in 1997 with KTS Group subsidiary Niamas Istimewa Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Land Development Board, a statutory body and a shareholder of Sarawak Plantations Bhd, to develop 2,508 hectares of NCR land for oil palm.

Under the Konsep Baru land development scheme, the landowners would hold 30 percent of the equity, the government agency 10 percent and a private investor 60 percent.

Spokesperson Changgai anak Dali said Niamas Istimewa Sdn Bhd had made an initial payment of 10 percent of the agreed sum.

However, he said it has not paid a single cent of the 30 percent by way of unit trust shares to the landowners over the last nine years, even though the harvested oil palm has brought returns to the joint-venture (JV) company.

The landowners have also learned that 10 percent of the equity of the JV company has since been sold to the private investor without their knowledge.

Changgai, 57, told Malaysiakini that the group had asked Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu and State Land Development Minister James Masing to intercede for them, but that there has been no result.

Complaint of encroachment

The landowners, who had travelled from Miri by bus, took the opportunity to mount the protest while in Kuching to lend support to Changgai who is facing a legal suit filed by another company.

Plantation company BLD Resources Sdn Bhd had applied for an injunction to prevent him from entering land under a provisional lease (PL), which it had obtained by the state government.

In 2005, the Land and Survey Department had issued the company a PL known as Lot 91 Sawai Land District, covering1,803 hectares, for oil palm cultivation.

Changgai is alleged to have trespassed on about 80 hectares within the area by planting it with food crops and oil palm.

The case was heard in chambers yesterday before Judicial Commissioner Abdul Hamid Sultan Abu Backer, who allowed an adjournment.

This was on application by the plaintiff’s counsel George Lo on the ground that the suit should include the Sarawak government which issued the PL.

Changgai is represented by Miri-based Orang Ulu NCR lawyer Harrison Ngau (photo-left).

Other residents of Changgai’s longhouse will file a separate suit against the company for encroaching on what they claim to be NCR land within the PL area.

It was agreed to consolidate all the cases for hearing on Jan 13 next year.

Iban prayer ritual, human skulls at court premises

by : Sulok Tawie

Tanah Kami Nyawa Kami Warisan Kami
Our Land Our Life Our Heritage

KUCHING: Native customary rights (NRC) landowners from an Iban longhouse in Bintulu Division came in full force for a case involving one of them and a plantation company at the High Court here yesterday.

However, it was the ritual aspect that attracted all the attention.

They arrived about 8am in two buses and cars, and began the miring (prayers for God's help and blessings) ritual in front of the court complex.

Rumah Ranggong longhouse elder Jimbon Gai with human skulls at the court premises
after the miring ritual in Kuching yesterday

After the prayers were chanted, a man placed the piring (offerings) on the mat, next to six human skulls collected during the headhunting days of the tribe.

The ritual, which lasted less than an hour, was conducted in a peaceful manner. A man, when asked about the ritual, said it was to strengthen their spirits.

"You know, land is our life and without it, we cannot live," he said.

The case involves BLD Resources Sdn Bhd, which seeks for a court injunction against Changgai Dali of Rumah Ranggong longhouse in Sungai Sah, Ulu Niah, Bintulu Division, from trespassing on a piece of land which it said was leased to it by the government.

Changgai maintained that he had customary rights over the land.

Judicial commissioner Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer adjourned the case to Jan 13 to allow BLD Resources to file an application to include the state government as a party. BLD Resources counsel George Lo made the application in chambers.

Harisson Ngau Laing, counsel for Changgai, said he would file a suit on behalf of Changgai and the other residents of the longhouse against the company for trespassing on their NCR land.

Ngau said the longhouse residents would also name the government as a party to the suit.

Natives Land Grabbed Systematically By Land Pirates Of Sarawak

Letters From Pribumi Sarawak to:

YB Lim Kit Siang

In Sarawak NCR lands are ignored and not respected, in the name of politics of development, which will make the rich richer and the poor natives poorer. The big developments are owned by shareholders who are already rich and Taib Mahmud’s cronies with the revenues / profits are shared among these few shareholders.

Their politics of development is to enrich themselves, self interest and great greed. Now they have deforested the Rajang forests – no more timber to harvest, so they go for native lands whether Temuda, Pemakai menoa, Pulau etc, they simply don’t care.

Taib is nearing his term now and in process to create a dynasty in Sarawak. His son will take over PBB, become chairman & thereafter CM of Sarawak. For the transition period, he may place his YB brother to take over. The manipulations, self-interest & greed will continue. The village people in Sarawak, most of them having no formal education will still vote for Taib coz support from rural areas with cash in election time will be on-going. Taib is great manipulator & having vast cronies here.

They have felled all the timber in Sarawak. Now they go for natives land. For land, they make use of Sarawak Land & Survey Department (SLSD) to get land as they wish. They just walk in SLSD office and choose which land area they want. Form a company for the purpose. Then the company will apply for land. The application will be processed/approved. They will comply with all procedures kononnya, ill-intention all things have been pre-arranged & prefixed.

Then SLSD will survey the land area, give notice through newspaper with description of land the village people will certainly not recognise or aware of. The procedure is legalized & provisional land title is issued by SLSD to the company. They legalised the taking of natives land which is outright robbery. They are robbers & pirates!!

They won’t inform the affected villagers for they don’t want them to know. Unlike the good intention of getting peoples land for genuine purpose of building bridges, roads, infrastructures etc, the villagers were informed and notices sent to kampungs & long houses for them to stake claims, but for purpose of land acquisition for companies things were done in secrecy. It was the other way round.

They confuse people by saying govt never grab peoples land. True but only those genuine purposes for public amenities but not for purpose of land to be given to their companies. That’s the difference here. They confuse the people here with this saying by YB Awang Tengah that govt never take peoples land!!. What a liar. The villagers will never be informed of their evil intention and the company will be sending bulldozers & tractors to the newly acquired land. When they see buldozers, tractors etc only then the natives will know.

Villages will lodge complaints to SLDS, District Office, Police, YBs - the answer is the land acquisition is already legal, nothing much can be done!!! The advice given was “you all (villagers) need to negotiate with the company, minta kasihan mereka!!!! Imagine your own property - your land grabbed by the eagles then minta kasihan. What right do they have?.

That’s the damned reply. That’s Taib’s administration here. He has hijacked the government institution. Since no one to turn to, so natives will try to stop the bulldozing of their rubber gardens, farms, empty land which is their “temuda” & “pemakai menoa” themselves. They have no money to fight this legally. Even then they can hardly win coz here all land belongs to state government.

The onus of proof is on the natives. In actual fact it should be those people who is taking natives land to prove the land is indeed not NCR. Our ancestors all have died, their has been no documentation in 1900s just NCR status accord by the land code.

Here natives are not allowed to survey their NCR land but the government can. Even if natives want to survey their NCR land first they need to prove land is planted 90%+ with crops, ok fair enough , then provided the area is not marked for development. Even then SLSD will not give land title to natives.

You know the SLSD, state gov has been hijacked by the pirates, Taib is the one-eyed pirate leader here. He is worst than the Somalia pirates.The rich and influential shareholders will have a very big piece of land for 60 years or more…which is not theirs in the first place.The few rich shareholders will have millions in revenues/profits.

So YB, this is happening everywhere in Sarawak now, natives are being evicted from their land now. Let me give you one of the real scenarios going on now at Serian under Muara Tuang DUN constituency (Taib’s brother) which is under Kota Samarahan Parliament constituency (Taib’s son). They plundered natives land there now under their proxies.

One of the NCR areas given to Usaha Jasamaju Sendirian Berhad, company number 660630-K. locality of land: between batang samarahan and Ensengei road, Serian. Area:354.00000 Ha, more or less convert to Mixed Zone land from 6/12/2006-5/12/2066. Lot number 00890, map sheet number: N5-13-1(5.1) TRN: 08-LCPLS-016-000-00890, Prov. Lease of state land - C. Remarks: Alienation of Land vide L.&S.80 No.69/2006, Svy. Job No.125/2006, DLS’s approval ref: 15/HQ/AL?103/2005(8D) dated 19.10.2006 & SLS’s ref: 15/SD.Doss.NO.AL/34/2006 issued at request of Ting Tiu Gung.

The village people who have been staying there since generations even before the Sarawak Government existed were never informed nor consulted - what more to be invited to have some shares and together participate develop the land there.

When the SLSD survey the areas for 1 month more or less, it was done in total secrecy. When village people ask them, no one would talk or answer. If there is answer they would lie to them. Now they are bulldozing peoples’ land, rubber trees with no regard to natives rights who actually own the land. They bersikap kurang ajar!!

Please YB, help address the issues of land belonging to natives in Sarawak urgently, a lot of lands now being plundered and taken from them right under their noses for Taib’s richness, cronies’ self-gains, greed at the expense of natives. This is only one case, there are many more. More tears of natives befell the land now.

The state government institution has been totally hijacked by Taib & his cronies here. He totally make use of this opportunity. The good example is the land described above. Now they are bulldozing the land, rubber trees, temuda, pemakai menoa, pulau without regard to peoples feelings as fellow human beings - the villagers are helpless now.

Bring this native land issue up to the attention of the whole country - so that the nation knows what Taib is doing here!!! he has hijacked the State Government for greed.

Do something now YB. Don’t be too busy with Semenanjung politics only.

Thank you, YB. God bless you.

Sarawak - next PKR's target

Tony Thien | Nov 29, 08 6:40pm

Top PKR leaders made it clear today that Sarawak is the party’s next target of a take-over to replace the Sarawak BN government led by long-serving Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Both PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim and party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail signalled the party's intention to do just that at the opening of the party's 5th Congress in Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam, on the back of a groundswell of support for PKR in Sarawak.

PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim in his speech at the opening said that the party's next congress in September next year will be held in Kuching.

The campaign has already started with many PKR divisions taking to the ground to drum up support for the party following the entry of independent Ngemah state assemblyperson Gabriel Adit during a ‘Friends of PKR’ gathering in Sibu two weeks ago.

Similar gatherings are to be held in Miri, Kuiching and Bintulu over the next three months.

Formidable but can be defeated

Adit surprised the 4000 people including delegates and observers at the opening of the congress this morning by speaking only in English, explaining that his knowledge of Bahasa Malaysia is still limited, and telling the huge crowd that included foreign diplomats that the Sarawak BN is formidable and not easy to defeat.

However, he added, the Sarawak BN could be defeated with the strengthening of Pakatan Rakyat in Sarawak and for this, Sarawakians who wanted a change after the long reign of Abdul Taib Mahmud needed help from their colleagues in Peninsular Malaysia.

Adit (pic. left), an Iban, has been appointed to the party's supreme council and attended his first meeting last night at the Selangor Menteri Besar's official residence in Shah Alam after a special gathering for PKR delegates and observers from Sarawak and Sabah.

In his speech, Anwar said Sarawak is a state rich in natural resources but the state's weath is concentrated in the hands of a few people.

The former deputy premier said PKR with its partners in Pakatan Rakyat were determined to topple the Sarawak BN government.

RASUAH DAN KEAZAMAN POLITIK

by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
November 25, 2008 12:56 PM

1. Saya bersetuju dengan pendapat Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak bahawa usaha membanteras politik wang perlu keazaman politik.

2. Soalnya - keazaman politik siapa?

3. Apakah keazaman politik mereka yang ingin dicalonkan dan sudah hulur wang sogokan?

4. Apakah keazaman pemimpin UMNO untuk lihat UMNO bersih daripada politik kotor?

5. Jika pemimpin yang perlu banteras, yang mana satukah pemimpin yang perlu berazam; pemimpin cawangankah, bahagian, Majlis Kerja Tertinggi atau Presiden parti?

6. Saya akui di masa saya jadi Presiden UMNO dan Perdana Menteri pun sudah ada politik wang.

7. Ia amat ketara semasa saya dan Tun Ghafar Baba dicabar pada tahun 1986.

8. Walaupun saya dapat pencalonan yang terbanyak (70 peratus) tetapi saya menang dengan kelebihan undi hanya 43 sahaja. Jelas perwakilan tidak undi ikut pencalonan oleh Bahagian.

9. Untuk mengelak perwakilan dipengaruhi semasa bersidang maka perlembagaan dipinda supaya 10 undi bonus diberi apabila dicalon oleh Bahagian.

10. Malangnya ada calon yang berjaya mendapat begitu banyak pencalonan sehingga lawannya terpaksa tarik diri.

11. Lepas itu dibatalkan undi bonus dan diganti dengan kuota 30 peratus bagi jawatan Presiden dan peratusan tertentu bagi jawatan-jawatan lain.

12. Dalam pencalonan untuk pemilihan kali ini ternampak jelas yang kuota tidak berjaya membanteras politik wang.

13. Ya, memang pun semasa saya dahulu sudah ada politik wang.

14. Tetapi peristiwa sogokan secara terbuka dan besar-besaran sehingga ramai dalam masyarakat pandang jijik akan politik UMNO tidak berlaku dahulu.

15. Tidak pernah terjadi yang Presiden parti didakwa terlibat dengan politik wang melalui laporan kepada polis dan Badan Pencegah Rasuah.

16. Tidak pernah Lembaga Disiplin parti menerima sehingga 900 laporan berkenaan politik wang.

17. Tidak pernah BPR terima banyak laporan rasuah untuk pencalonan bagi jawatan dalam UMNO.

18. Membuat alasan bahawa dulu pun ada rasuah tidak menghalalkan rasuah sekarang, terutamanya rasuah terbuka dan besar-besaran.

19. Sesungguhnya hari ini di mana-mana juga rakyat bercakap berkenaan rasuah dalam pencalonan kepimpinan UMNO. Ini tidak berlaku dahulu.

20. Juga dahulu rakyat tidak pernah tolak sebahagian besar calon UMNO dan Barisan Nasional dalam pilihanraya 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995 dan 1999 seperti yang berlaku pada pilihanraya umum 2008. Jika rasuah dahulu tidak berbeza dengan sekarang kenapakah BN menang majoriti 2/3 tiap pilihanraya umum dari tahun 1982-1999?

21. Dahulu rakyat/pengundi tidak anggap UMNO sebagai parti pimpinan perasuah seperti hari ini.

22. Kerana tidak suka pada kepimpinan Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, BN sudah ditolak di lima buah negeri dan sebuah Wilayah Persekutuan. Hari ini bukan Presiden sahaja yang dianggap tidak layak, tetapi seluruh kepimpinan UMNO tidak disukai dan tidak dianggap layak memimpin negara kerana pencalonan mereka adalah hasil sogokan oleh mereka. Memilih mereka bermakna memilih perasuah untuk mendirikan Kerajaan. Masyarakat yang mana yang mahu terima Kerajaan perasuah?

23. Ramalan saya ialah UMNO akan kalah teruk pada pilihanraya umum ke-13. Mendapat sokongan daripada parti (melalui rasuah) tidak akan menjamin kemenangan dalam pilihanraya umum.

24. Yang memberi kemenangan kepada calon-calon UMNO dahulu ialah undi ahli bersama dengan penyokong luar, penyokong bukan UMNO. Jangan fikir hanya dengan undi ahli UMNO sahaja kemenangan akan diperolehi.

25. Dalam pilihanraya umum ke-12 ramai ahli UMNO-pun tidak undi calon BN. Dan amat ramai daripada penyokong-penyokong (bukan ahli) UMNO yang undi parti lawan. Itulah yang memberi keputusan yang buruk bagi BN dalam pilihanraya umum ke-12.

26. Ingatlah kelebihan undi bagi calon UMNO yang menang tidak sebesar dahulu. Jika hanya separuh lebih sedikit daripada kelebihan kecil ini berpaling tadah dan mengundi parti lawan UMNO akan kalah dimana dahulu ia menang.

27. Mereka yang ghairah menggunakan wang untuk dicalon oleh bahagian harus ingat jika parti UMNO kalah, kemenangan jadi pemimpin UMNO tidak bermakna. Lihat ketua-ketua perhubungan Kedah, Perak, Kelantan dan Selangor dan mereka yang dicalon bertanding pilihanraya umum ke-12. Di mana mereka?

28. Jika BN kalah, Presiden UMNO tidak akan jadi Perdana Menteri, Timbalan Presiden tidak akan jadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan lain-lain pemimpin UMNO jika menang pun tidak akan jadi Menteri, Timbalan Menteri, Setiausaha Parlimen atau pengerusi-pengerusi syarikat berkaitan Kerajaan (GLC) dan lain-lain dan ketua-ketua bahagian tidak akan dapat kontrak dan lain-lain.

29. Lebih buruk lagi UMNO akan hancur. Pengasas-pengasas UMNO akan kutuk mereka yang kerana tamak telah musnahkan UMNO.

30. Orang yang terkenal menyogok wang untuk jadi pemimpin UMNO, jika mereka dipilih akan menyebabkan UMNO ditolak dalam pilihanraya umum.

31. Rakyat tahu siapa mereka walaupun sukar bagi mendapat bukti yang mereka ini adalah perasuah.

32. Perwakilan UMNO yang menerima sogokan dan memilih orang yang dikenali sebagai perasuah, harus ingat apabila mereka memilih orang ini, mereka sebenarnya mengkhianati bangsa, agama dan negara hanya kerana sedikit wang yang akan habis dibelanjakan dalam sekelip mata. Kamu dan zuriat kamu akan dikutuk oleh bangsa kamu tiap kali mereka menderita kerana kamu telah jual bangsa dan negara kamu untuk sedikit wang.

Changing the Head Hornbill in Sarawak

by Sim Kwang Yang

Should Abdul Taib Mahmud - the chief minister of Sarawak - step down, after 27 years at the helm of near absolute power in the resource rich state?

Does PBB - his party that holds half the number of seats in the Sarawak State Assembly - bully the other component parties of the Sarawak Barisan Nasional? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes!

But this kind of questions is only relevant to members and supporters of the Sarawak BN. Other Sarawakians know very well that Taib will not step down on his own accord.

He has to cling on to the throne in Sarawak, to protect the future of his gargantuan family conglomerate CMS (an acronym that could designate the company Cahaya Mata Sarawak or the title Chief Minister of Sarawak - an interesting coincidence).

Whenever conversations meander off onto the topic of the Sarawak CM in private circles, it is hard for people not to mention CMS in the same breath. Its dominant presence in the Sarawak’s economy - especially in the public sector in the state - is well known.

Actually, the acronym for CMS has its origins in a precursor to the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC): Cement Manufacturers Sarawak.

The report in The Edge

The repressed press of Malaysian media have seldom told the story of CMS. On the other hand, there have been a few reports by international media on Taib’s family business. The following report by Michael Backman, entitled ‘In Sarawak, politics and cash are all in the family’, was published in The Edge on March 15 2001 in Melbourne, Australia:

CMS Group was originally a joint venture between the state government’s Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and the neighbouring state of Sabah.

The group started as a monopoly cement producer to feed the building boom in both states. In 1989, the Sabah government sold its stake and the Sarawak government decided the company should be listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. At the same time, the chief minister’s brother, Onn bin Mahmud, and his two sons, Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib and Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, were brought in.

The Taib family owns about half the company and the SEDC’s equity has been diluted to about eight percent. Effectively, the chief minister had decided to privatise CMS - and it was his family that bought it.

CMS has since expanded to more than 40 subsidiaries that operate in infrastructure development, water supply, steel making, transport, manufacturing, property development, financial services and stock broking.

But CMS is not the Taib family’s only business concern. Timber is the main source of Sarawak’s wealth. Logging concessions, which the Sarawak government hands out, are are a license to print money. The chief minister’s family happens to possess significant logging concessions.

Indeed, claims have been published that companies associated with Taib and his supporters hold about 1.6 million hectares in timber concessions with a combined logged value of up to US$12 billion.

Taib’s time in politics has coincided with the apparent accumulation of enormous family wealth. He is known for his expensive tastes - he is rumoured to have paid almost US$2 million for the grand piano that belonged to late American showman Liberace.”

There it is. The above report, published in 2001, is still relevant today. The question of whether Taib’s discharge of his official duty as CM amidst the meteoric rise of CMS constitutes a conflict of interest or outright corruption is a purely academic one.

As long as he can deliver all or nearly all 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak to keep the Umno prime minister in power, as has been proven during the March 8 general election, the PM and all the federal agencies under his jurisdiction will not touch the Sarawak CM with a ten-foot pole.

A dynasty in the making?

If you check into the traffic on Sarawak Internet, you will find the name of the CM, together with the name of Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu, the most vilified and defiled names in the state. A referendum among Sarawak netizens will conclude that indeed the CM has overstayed his welcome.

But the CM will not go gently into the good night in more ways than one. His brother joined the Sarawak State Assembly as a member in the last state election in 2006.

In the May parliamentary election, his son Sulaiman was elected as MP, and was promptly co-opted into the federal government as a deputy minister, presumably to learn about the art of government. Do we see a dynasty in the making? Only time will tell.

Therefore, for Taib’s detractors to fulfill their dream of changing the Chief Minister of Sarawak, there is only one way, and that is through the next state general election speculated to be held as early as next year.

Slightly more than a week ago, during a dinner in Sibu organised by “Friends of PKR”, 4000 people of all races turned up to welcome Anwar Ibrahim and witness a public ceremony in which Gabriel Adit, the current independent state assemblyperson representing Ngemah and a former vice-president of the now defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) submit his application to join PKR, together with 12,000 others.

The choice of Sibu as the dinner venue is significant. Sibu is sited on the bank of the mighty Rejang River, and upstream, the Rejang basin is one of the most notable Iban heartlands in Sarawak. Adit’s dramatic personal political make-over is symbolic for many disgruntled Dayaks in Sarawak. Some Dayaks have already predicted a new dawn for Sarawak, a revival of Dayak power on the political scene in the state.

Nothing is impossible in politics I suppose, having just witnessed the historic conclusion of the American presidential election. But Sarawak is no America, and Sarawakians are a far cry from Americans in many political aspects.

The opposition parties in Sarawak are now fragmented and weakened, divided by race, region, and personal feuds among their leaders. The hounds also run with the hares. The Sarawak political arena is quite a muddied pond full of all kinds of reptiles, swimming along with the real dragons.

Eventually, the Achilles’ Heel of the opposition parties in Sarawak is their lack of funds, in sharp contrast to the seemingly inexhaustible source of funds lying in the Barisan Nasional war chest.

Unlike politics in the peninsula states, Sarawak politics, especially in the rural constituencies, is still mired in money politics. That is why the cash-rich Sarawak BN has been so successful in so many past parliamentary and state elections.

I have met many rural voters who actually would demand cash for their votes. Ugly as it may seem, it has become one of the less savoury features of Sarawak democracy.

To break this distasteful tradition, the opposition must not buy votes, or give all kinds of largesse during general elections, including building materials, personal gifts in kind, or standing feasts that can last throughout the duration of the campaign period. (Yes, this is how things are done in Sarawak.)

They must device more meaningful and innovative methods of campaigning, the likes of which Sarawak rural voters have never seen before.

Anwar’s full attention

But then there is still the huddle of reaching the rural voters. There is still the question of funding, needed for large groups of canvassers and campaigners to travel long distances across difficult terrain to motivate and organise local grassroots leaders in every village and every longhouse throughout this vast and sparsely populated state where modern infrastructure for communication and transport is primitive at best.

We are talking about hundreds and thousands of ringgit for one rural constituency alone. Multiply that by the 50 or so rural and semi-rural constituencies and you get the rough estimate of how much money it takes to change the CM of Sarawak.

This is only one hurdle. I can write a book on the problems and experiences of contesting in Sarawak alone.

But the great dinner in Sibu is a good start towards solving those problems. Obviously Anwar was suitably impressed; he said that if the response from Sarawakians is so good, he should perhaps visit Sarawak more often.

I believe PKR is a suitable vehicle for positive change in Sarawak for various reasons, not least of which is the clout of the party in national politics and in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

For that change to happen, Anwar may have to turn his full attention to this vast eastern state of Sarawak - now.

He has to go there often, to heal wounds among the opposition camp, to build consensus and coalition, to work out a statewide strategy, coin mission statements, supervise organisation, to recruit new talents who will be free from negative political baggage, and above all, squeeze out the funds from whatever resources at his disposal for the big campaign. He has to do it, like yesterday.

The prize is worth his trouble. In Sarawak, state power determines the outcome of the parliamentary elections most of the time. A change of the chief minister will greatly improve Anwar’s chance of becoming the prime minister of Malaysia in the next parliamentary general election.

For justice in the Land of the Hornbill in the emergence of a new Malaysia!

Sarawak Holds The Key To PKR Government, Says Anwar

SIBU, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Sarawak, which has 30 members of parliament, holds the key to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government in the country.

"When Sarawak changes its course, the Barisan Nasional government will collapse," he said at a dinner organised by "Friends of PKR" at the Sibu Trade and Exhibition centre here last night.

He said leaders in the PR coalition like Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang of Pas, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng of DAP and himself and his wife would continue to meet and hold discussions with BN MPS to get them to cross over.

About 3,000 people were present at the dinner, the biggest so far for a PKR function here.

Those present included PKR vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Jeffery Kitinggan, Sarawak DAP leader Wong Ho Leng, former Sri Aman MP Jimmy Donald, and Baginda Minda, the former Parti Rakyat Sarawak Balleh branch publicity chief, who caused a furore with his statement accusing the state dominant BN party, the Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, of being a bully.

At the function, Anwar received membership application forms from Gabriel Adit Demong, one of two independent state assemblymen, and from 11,752 individuals from throughout the state.

Anwar said Sarawakians were now ready for change, saying Adit had volunteered to lead a recruitment drive for more members for PR.

"Do not be surprise if what had happened in five peninsula states in the March general elections could happen here," he said, adding that PR was prepared to face the coming state election.

He also claimed that several people from the state had visited him to express their interests to join PKR.

Meanwhile, Adit said a lot of BN members were "waiting in the wing" to join him and that his decision in joining PKR was "the first of many installments" over the next few months.

-- BERNAMA

Gabriel Adit Officially Joins PKR

SIBU, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- Ngemah state assemblyman Gabriel Adit Demong, 58, who won on an Independent ticket in the Sarawak state election some time back, has joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Gabriel Adit Demong (pic. center)

He handed over his application form to join the party to its president Datuk Seri Anwar Inbrahim at a dinner here Saturday night.

Also joining Adit in his move were 11,752 individuals from throughout the state.

Adit is a four-term Ngemah state assemblyman, three of which were on BN ticket when he was a vice-president of the now defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak(PBDS), a dayak majority state BN component party which was de-registered due to internal leadership crisis.

With Adit joining PKR the party now has two members in the state legislative assembly.

The other is Dominic Ng who is also the state PKR chairman and Padungan state assemblyman. -- BERNAMA

Enough is Enough : Taib and Jabu - Game Over

PRS (6MPs) threat of leaving BN intensifies, calls for Taib to leave

First, he called Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and Umno ‘bullies’.

Now Parti Rakyat Sarawak’s (PRS) former publicity head of its Balleh division Beginda Minda has boldly called on PBB president Abdul Taib Mahmud to step down as Sarawak chief minister.

Revealing bundles of flawed strategies in the Taib administration on Mkini.tv’s 'Uncensored' talk show, Beginda also held long-serving Iban Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu equally responsible for the agony and sufferings of the Dayak community, adding that “Jabu should also seriously consider retirement as soon as possible".

"Taib’s era has passed. It is time for him to give way to the younger generation to take over the reins of power in Sarawak. Twenty seven years as chief minister is long enough," Beginda told 'Uncensored' host Francis Paul Siah.

Beginda insisted that he was not launching a personal attack at these two Sarawak leaders but that he has decided to come out publicly to “say what has to be said” as he (Beginda) is also a member of a BN component party.

“My request is for Taib and Jabu to step down gracefully and retire as honourable and respected statesmen. Surely, it is better to go that way than to be forced out of office through people’s power,” he reasoned.

"It is clear to most people that the days when they (Taib and Jabu) have been most effective and most active are nearly gone. There are now many capable and qualified younger people with fresh ideas and bolder visions to lead the state.

"Taib has been active in politics since the first days of independence in 1963 and has been chief minister of Sarawak since 1981. Alfred Jabu has been in active politics since 1974 and was made deputy chief minister shortly after.

"Admittedly, these two gentlemen have done much for Sarawak. There have been pluses, I grant that, but there are many negatives as well," he said.

Row, row, row your boat to Kapit

Beginda touched on several issues close to the hearts of Sarawak Dayaks during the interview. He spoke at length on the land issue, uneven development in the state, lack of employment opportunities and the ‘sufferings’ of his Iban community.

“It is a fact that after 45 long years of independence, many areas in Sarawak are still not being developed, including my hometown of Kapit.

"Kapit is still the same as it has been during the colonial time of the British. During the time of Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke, we were rowing sampans as there were no roads to get out of Kapit.

“Today, there are still no roads linking Kapit to other towns and we still have to use boats ... only that this time, the boats have engines.

"I know that the two gentlemen (Taib and Jabu) will not be able to tolerate my public expression of these grouses. But the truth must be told. Enough is enough … my advice to them is not to wait until people demonstrate in the streets," he said.

Beginda also reiterated that PBB has an ‘apparent policy’ of undermining their coalition partners in "varying degrees of subtlety".

"The BN partners - Sarawak United People's Party (Supp), PRS or Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) - are in themselves complete organisations and their interests need to be respected. Interference by a senior partner, no matter the guise, is a form of bullying.

"Bullying goes against the grain of good and just participation in political affairs and dilutes the effectiveness of coalition partners when in fact they (the partners) should be effective and are seen as effective.

"Inevitably a coalition partner which is denied an effective delivery system will be held in ever diminishing esteem by the electorate," said Beginda.

Beginda was removed as publicity chief of the PRS Balleh division on Oct 27 following his ‘bully’ statement published in Malaysiakini two days earlier. He maintained he has no regrets over what he said.

Asked whether Taib could be behind the disbandment of Dayak-based parties, Beginda said: "It is very clear."

"One of the impacts of political interference has been to wreck the political cohesiveness of the Dayak people.

"Every decade, it seems that the Dayaks have to create a new party and as long as the party is young and new, it will be a junior partner. This is what PBB wants," said Beginda.

“If you look at the history of Snap, PBDS, SPDP and PRS, you will know what I am talking about,” he added.

Allow Dayaks to own their land

Beginda also rebuked Sarawak's land policies which have not been reviewed since the 1960s although Taib has been in power for 27 years.

"There have been many disputes over land ownership and the exploitation of resources, such as timber, which have pitted timber companies against natives who have traditionally regarded tracts of land to be theirs," he lamented.

"In Sarawak million of acres of NCR land are affected and the economic opportunity for the Dayaks from their lands are lost. The natives need the ownership of their lands to be put in order through proper surveying," said Beginda.

He urged the state government to adhere to growing public dissatisfaction regarding land policy and ensure commitment to review current land policies.

"The uproar last month in Bekenu Sibuti, where the Kedayan people were under threat of an eviction order apparently made to make way for plantation development, need not have happened if a proper land policy that protects native lands and if a proper land adjudication had been put in place.

"This is no longer just an abuse of power but oppression of the people. If this goes on, the natives will lose everything," he said.

On the matter of Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) which maintains land development and social-economic wealth of the state, Beginda said: "Salcra could do a much better job but it is not doing that".

"There are grumblings that participants do not get the so called 'dividends' that they feel they are entitled to or that their lands have been bought over by those with vested interests.

"Yet it is possible for Salcra to do very well and earn the participants plenty of rewards had legislations and measures been introduced which prevent estate lands from being sold and transferred to other parties.

"For instance, Felda, the federal government's land development agency, is so well run that it is now prepared to spread its operation overseas. Why can't Salcra be as successful as Felda?" he asked.

No job opportunities in Sarawak

Beginda also raised grouses relating to employment opportunities in the state, where although Sarawak is rich in resources, large number of the natives still flee to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore in search of employment.

"We have plenty of timber, coal, oil and gas. These are ingredients for a strong economy. We should be an employment haven ... yet now in Sarawak we have problems regarding the economy and employment.

"In Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, there are as many as 60000 Sarawakians. In Johor alone, more than 16,000 Sarawakians are employed there.

"Ask them why they prefer to work in Peninsular Malaysia and most will reply that there are better job opportunities there.

"Why can't Sarawak create jobs for its own people?"

"Surely, it is now time for a change of leadership," he added.

Towards the end of the show, Beginda spoke in Iban as he made an impassioned appeal to his community to stay focussed and united as they demand for their rights in Sarawak - Malaysiakini.com

Taib's arrogance-ness has no boundary.

Taib's arrogance-ness has no boundary. His 27 years in power as Chief Minister has gone over his head and acting more like a dictator. He's absolute authority or inquestionable truth in every aspect of political matters that other should not raise any issues within his administration. He is the authority beyond question. Taib is always someone who takes advantage of another individual /party that he or she perceives as more vulnerable. The goal is to gain control over the victim or to gain control over a social group, in this matter party members. Is this not an impulsive bullying?

Prevalence

Bullying has existed as long as there has been Taib's existence in Sarawak political scene. However, recently our society has become more aware of bullying and its harmful consequences. Hence, some brave members dare to speak due to their inherent awareness of their silent has led to greater marginalization.

Taib surround himself with friends in the like of Jabu who condone and promote aggressive behavior. He does not develop a mature sense of justice. He intimidates others to cover up his own insecurities.

The bystander who observes the interaction may become frightened to express himself openly. He may eventually adopt the behaviors or either the bully or the victim.

Those bullies lacks empathy for others. Has low degree of anxiety about consequences. Narcissistic need to feel omnipotent. May appear to have a high self esteem but it is actually a brittle narcissism.

---

Don't Blow Up Bullying Issue - Taib

KUCHING, Oct 29 (Bernama) -- Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud has called on all parties not to prolong and blow up the issue of bullying raised by members of smaller components of the coalition.

He said the allegation that bigger component parties were bullying the rest was "a small matter".

"You don't need to ask me questions like this," he told reporters at his office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today.

He was asked to comment on a Malaysiakini report on Saturday which quoted Parti Rakyat Sarawak member Beginda Minda of the Balleh division as saying that Umno at the federal level and Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) in Sarawak were too dominant and bullying smaller BN components.

Taib who is Sarawak Chief Minister, is also PBB president.

Former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting was also reported to have said during the party's 55th general assembly recently that Umno seemed far more dominant compared to the other components and wanted the BN leadership to correct the situation. -- BERNAMA

Dayak community must initiate the change

Commentary on "More cases of ‘bullying’ by PBB" as reported by Malaysiakini.


DIN MERICAN

People must initiate the change, not those politicians who are in Taib’s clutches.You can’t expect, for example, Alfred Jabu and Leo Moggie to do it. They have stakes in ensuring that Taib and family remain in power.

Maybe the Dayak community should start the ball rolling without Alfred and Leo, by honouring Stephen Kalong Ningkan, Jugah and other warriors of Dayak nationalism who supported Sarawak’s entry into Malaysia in the hope of a better future for their community. Stand up and fight for your sacred and fundamental rights.

How can the Dayaks allow the minority Melanau Malays to dominate their native land and deny them their rights. My Dayak brothers and sisters have— and must be given— a major role to play in Sarawak and Malaysian affairs. Please show Taib and the Barisan Nasional that the Dayaks are a great and proud people who believe in freedom, democracy and justice for all.

As a keen supporter of PKR and PR, I welcome my Dayak brothers and sisters into our fold. You have waited too long and now it is the time to make the change. So my friend Salak and Deepo, do your thing, guys.— Din Merican

PBB is indeed a big time 'bully'

Reading from what Simanggang division publicity chief Nanta Chaku statement to Malaysiakini, it was crystal clear that Taib and Jabu poke their noses in every nooks and corners in the Sarawak BN component parties. As for Jabu he is the worst betrayal of the Dayak people's trust, especially the Iban. I am glad that there are brave Iban in PRS who are willing to risk their political career to stand up for the truth. Those are true politicians with principles.

More cases of 'bullying' by PBB
Tony Thien | October 28, 2008

The Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) is abuzz like a hornet’s nest that has been disturbed, following an accusation that Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) has been ‘bullying’ component parties.

MCPX

Another Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) division leader has come out in support of the claim - Simanggang division publicity chief Nanta Chaku cited three examples in a statement to Malaysiakini.

On Saturday, the party’s Baleh division publicity head Beginda Minda had revealed two instances of alleged bullying by PBB, led by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud (right), as well as by Umno.

Nanta said: “To support Beginda Minda’s contention… three other examples come to mind immediately:

1. Since 1981 other component parties in the Sarawak BN have been required to send two to three names of candidates for each constituency held by them, for the PBB leadership to pick the ones to contest. In other words, the final selection is subject to PBB’s decision.

2. A certain high-ranking Iban personage in PBB who fancies himself as the paramount chief of the (community) always insists on appointing his favourites as Penghulus, Pemancha and Temenggong (even) where PBB does not have elected (representatives).

3. In the contest for top posts in component parties, the election is dependent on close (connections between) the candidates (and) the PBB leadership. In other words, candidates perceived to be supported by the PBB leadership always seems to win. Social and economic issues doesn’t seem to matter, but closeness to the PBB leadership does.”Nanta also said ‘big boys’ in Sarawak BN deny ‘small boys’ any say in the final selection of candidates, whether for a general election, appointment of community chiefs or party leaders.

Since this is subject to final approval by PBB leaders, it makes a mockery of the original concept of the BN power-sharing concept in Sarawak, he said.

“It is perhaps more accurate to say that PBB is not only all too dominant but also domineering in attitude vis-a-vis smaller component parties.”

‘Explore other options’

Nanta urged members of other component parties to examine their options.

In the two examples cited by Beginda, reference was made to selection of candidates for the Sri Aman and Lubok Antu parliamentary seats, held by PRS in the March general election, and to a particular candidate selected for the 2006 state election.

Beginda had reminded the BN top leadership that the coalition must wake up to current political realities and stop being in a state of denial.

“Before, there was only BN which could provide the national leadership. After March 2008, it is clear that PRS has other, perhaps better, options,” he ended with a veiled warning, without elaborating what these options might be.In an immediate reaction to this, Masing - the state assemblyperson for Baleh - distanced the party from the claim, describing it as Beginda’s personal stance.

Masing said he could not stop members from expressing their views but felt that they should not go overboard in their criticism. He also said he would initiate an investigation.

Beginda is one of Masing’s right-hand men and his comments have irked Taib, who is the state BN chairperson.

It is learnt that Taib has told Masing to take disciplinary action against Beginda.

Rumours are circulating that the latter may already have been sacked, but this could not be immediately verified.

Source: www.malaysiakini.com

The Broken Shield: PBB is indeed the biggest bully in Sarawak ~ ref Malaysiakini

The Broken Shield: PBB is indeed the biggest bully in Sarawak ~ ref Malaysiakini

Umno and PBB is a bully, says Balleh PRS Publicity Chief

Oct 25, 08 9:09am

A Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) division leader Balleh PRS publicity chief Beginda Minda has described Umno at the federal level and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) in Sarawak as ‘too dominant’ and indeed are ‘bullies’ in their dealings with smaller component parties in the Barisan Nasional.

Umno and PBB should stop thinking ‘dominance’ and start thinking of allowing other BN parties to run their own shows. If not, PRS has other options, he warns.

It is not too late for PRS to take the right course of action and now is the most opportune time it leadership should make the move - 'just do it', otherwise PRS will become irrelevant in the next state election. People are tired of Taib's so-called 'Politics of Development' but in political reality it is infact a modernised concept of politics of 'divide and rule', to sustain his grip on power in perpetuity and eventually to pave the way for his son (family) to take over the reign of power - thus a dynasty is created.

Taib Mahmud is indeed a big bully, not only to the component parties in the Sarawak BN but also within his party. It is a well known secret that those who are not in agreement with his authoritarian style of leadership and a threat to him in PBB will be destroyed politically for good; eg. Abang Mustapha and other Malay leaders in PBB. But those who are good 'apple polisher' like Alfred Jabu and other Dayaks leader are reward handsomely at the expense of the Dayak community who are largely living in rural area, where the bulk of BN strongest supporters are.

For 27 years BN rule Sarawak under Taib's leadership, the rural Sarawak population are at their worst both economically and deprivation of meaningful development. They are being systematically evicted from their ancestral land. What you see in rural Sarawak are NCR land being confiscated without proper compensation to the land owner and given to plantation developer which largely benefits Taib's family, relatives and cronies. Jungle are being plundered for the timbers and other natural resources which enrich Taib's family and cronies. And this what Taib called a second wave of 'Politics of Development', mega projects such as hydroelectric water dam, largest aluminium smelting in collaboration with Global Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto in Similajau to mention a few, of which all these mega-projects are for the benefits of Taib's family through their company Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS) in which his family members - (wife, siblings, children) has substantial shares holding.

---

PRS: Umno is a bully, so is PBB
Malaysiakini, October 25, 2008

A Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) division leader has described Umno at the federal level and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) in Sarawak as ‘too dominant’ and indeed are ‘bullies’ in their dealings with smaller component parties in the Barisan Nasional.

MCPX

Taking a cue from the statement of former MCA president Ong Ka Ting who has expressed similar sentiments, Balleh PRS publicity chief Beginda Minda said this tendency of one party dominance has an adverse impact on public perception and intra-BN relationships.

“It is my view that in Sarawak, PRS, a component party inside the state and federal Barisan Nasional has been bullied by what could collectively be called the ‘BN leadership’,” he said in a statement to Malaysiakini today

Elaborating, Beginda explained that in the case of Sarawak, the BN system has generated a state-level entity where there has been one dominant party - the PBB which is leading the state BN government.

Very powerful Taib Mahmud

PBB president Abdul Taib Mahmud (left in photo) is also state BN chair and chief minister of Sarawak for the past 27 years.

He has long been described as Sarawak’s most powerful personality and is known to be intolerant of dissent within the party’s ranks.

“Just as there is a public perception of Umno being too dominant at the national level, there is also a similar perception that in Sarawak, the dominant role of PBB has had an effect on the conduct of smaller parties, such as PRS,” Beginda said.

Prime Minister and national BN chair Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has responded immediately to Ong’s remarks on Oct 18, denying that Umno has bullied others in the BN. Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib has also asked for evidence of Umno bullying.

Responding to Muhammad Taib’s request, Beginda cited two recent instances of Umno and PBB bullying PRS.

The first was during the 2006 state election when a component BN party was ‘allowed’ to steal a PRS seat

“Neither the state nor federal BN intervened effectively to stop a component party from interfering in the affairs of another. Where was BN when effective action was needed?

“It was as if the BN was shutting its proverbial ‘eye’ to the intra-BN infighting in Sarawak. By letting the problem fester, it was acting as a bully, not a problem solver,” Beginda pointed out.

The second incident was during the March general election when two of the party’s candidates were rejected without any reason.

Beginda queried why was PBB allowed to choose its candidates to contest on PRS seats.

“Where is the principle that component parties ought to be free to conduct their own affairs and make the selection of candidates themselves? Is this not a case of dominance and bullying?” he asked.

“As a result, PRS was caught in a dilemma. The choices were two: PRS could have rejected the suggested replacements or it could have accepted them.

“A refusal to accept the replacement candidates could have left the party open to accusations of being disloyal to BN, a grave enough political sin. Such a move would have put PRS leadership in hot soup and perhaps alienate the party from BN.

“The impact on PRS was that it was a tremendous ‘let down’. To paraphrase Dato Seri Ong, the perception was that a partner in Sarawak BN - the PBB - was being ‘too dominant’.”

Despite these internal BN problems, Sarawak managed to deliver all but one of its 31 parliamentary seats to the BN. The ruling coalition only lost Bandar Kuching to DAP.

PRS is led by Dr James Masing (right) who is the party’s founder president. He is also state land development minister.

PRS has six members of parliament. Its vice-president Joseph Entulu serves at the federal level as deputy minister for national and rural development.

Other options, other than BN

On the current situation within the Sarawak BN, Beginda said it would seem that “we in PRS are still back in a bad school environment where the weaker students are being bullied by the more senior ones.”

He called for a mechanism in the BN for components parties to be protected from the predation of others, no matter what the excuse.

“Umno and PBB could be strong but that should be so without being dominant up to the level that it could openly ‘interfere’ into the internal affairs of another component party,” said Beginda.

Stressing that the BN leadership must be just, Beginda said the organisational integrity of a component party like PRS must be maintained.

“Its decisions, such as the nomination of candidates, must be respected. Failure to do this could lead to fragmentation at the peripheries and ultimately could spread to the centre,” he warned.

Beginda also emphasised on the need for re-generation, re-vitalisation and re-growth within the BN.“

The BN machinery is seen as an ossified body, presently unable to respond effectively to the needs of component parties and that of the country as a whole.

The message is that such dominance need to be rectified and ways be found as a means of resuscitating the rest of the BN partners so that the BN machinery could be energized and respond to the people more effectively,” he said.

Beginda reminded the BN top leadership that the coalition must wake up to current political realities and stop being in a state of denial.

“Before, there was only BN which could provide the national leadership. After March 2008, it is clear that PRS has other, perhaps better, options,” he ended with a veiled warning, without elaborating what these options might be. - Malaysiakini.com