http://kadayanjournal.com/?p=1250
Whose Interest?
April 15, 2009
Sarawak Chief Minister beamed with smile after meeting the Prime Minister that was quoted in the media soon after Datuk Najib Tun Abd Razak announced the line up of his cabinet. Why one may ask? The answer is obvious his son Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abd Rahman was appointed as Deputy Minister of Tourism.
While former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad likewise whose son is also in the cabinet line up as Deputy Minister said, he didn’t do any lobbying for Datuk Mukhriz.
Datuk Mukhriz lost in his bet for UMNO Youth Chief selection to Khairy Jamaluddin yet he was appointed as Minister. Many people think if the father honestly didn’t do any kowtow, then Najib must have been terhutang budi– and greatly influenced by his former boss.
Another irony in the making is the Deputy Youth leader was also appointed as Deputy Minister leaving out its Chief with no cabinet post, by tradition in the past, the Chief had always held a full ministerial post.
Tun Mahathir now back joining UMNO he had been playing ping-pong with UMNO that in itself is an issue. One wonders what will he say if others do it?
His timing was more than perfect coincided with the by election of the two bukits recently. No, I don’t think ordinarily voters care very much by looking at the result of the elections. The Midas touch was out of power; new era has begun Tun Mahathir shouldn’t act selfishly or childishly anymore. Disgraceful.
It is obvious that the UMNO Youth Chief is alienated if not outcaste by the present members of the cabinet. Whatever the argument is, the Malay culture, which has always been tactful and polite in handling diplomacy in the past, now is fading out just as much as UMNO’s lustre.
Let me say this, Taib Mahmud who was happy for his son appointed a minister at Federal level, but only to find out later, Sabah has overtaken Sarawak in term of numbers of ministers holding portfolios. Does it mean Sabah is now much favoured by the new Prime Minister?
Sabah is closer to Najib’s chest; Sabah has directly contributed in the making of Najib the sixth Prime Minister. Sabah’s UMNO representation and support in the UMNO assembly has been crucial all this while, neglecting Sabah is a recipe for disaster. Principally, Sabah leaders survivability in politic is based on mutual benefit, i.e., KK-KL and vice versa, rakyat approval or disapproval plays little role if any.
Sarawak likewise has no direct contribution; Sarawak’s BN is decided by one man the Chief Minister of Sarawak not the President of UMNO. It’s Sarawak BN Chairman that controls and decides the form and shape of the State BN.
But it’s now Sarawak representation in Federal Cabinet, which makes ordinary Sarawakian feel jilted, they know Sarawak BN is very rock solid and sound. An example was just concluded, the by election in Batang Ai. That leaves me with this reasoning, that Sarawak BN isn’t the same as Sabah BN, because Sarawak has no UMNO, and Sabah has.
Here is a little anecdote of rural Sarawak and Sabah, which I think is still relevant to this moment.
For PKR or any other opposition parties, take this piece very seriously. Orang kampongs here are only a little bit smarter than Orang Utan. Oops! They will remain to be just like what they were before if BN is running the country in million years. Because it’s the easiest way of governing the country, let them do what they do in the jungle while politicians in urban areas amass whatever they want. Very democratic!
Another way of saying is they have been bullied ever since immemorial days. Don’t expect them to think like voters in Klang Valley or the two Bukits that the opposition won recently. Unless leaders in the opposition are willing to sacrifice more than just a lift service from now up to the general election.
Orang kampongs don’t require rhetoric speeches, a simple logic would do. An example of catch phrase, tell the rural folks that it’s useless to vote for Pakatan Rakyat because they have no money- a little proof would do, Pakatan couldn’t even distribute a package of free instant noodle (maggi-mi), let alone to help build the country. Just imagine, Sarawak BN announced there and then RM700 million worth of projects in a constituency with a mere 8000 voters, is this not magical?
Second, as in rural Sabah, Sarawak shares the same culture that I know of, with the presence of strangers (outsiders) all of a sudden, would create suspicion to rural people. I’m sure the local BN campaigners used this technique by saying that opposition political party like PKR is foreign they are colonizers; they are new form of Raja Brooke. While Sarawak BN is local, it’s a homegrown political party. Make a choice folks; you want local or foreigners to look after you. Comes a saying sejahat-jahat orang kita, lebih baik orang sendiri (no matter how bad are our people they are still considerate)
The third, the urban, educated Dayaks were hyper excited of the opposition political party presence in the state but they forget, Rome was not build in one day. They have not done their homework to impart the idea, which actually takes longer time than cooking maggi mi. Without understanding of them and rapport relationship, the local would rather take the cash from BN and go back to hiding than listening to talks from opposition, which they have nothing to bring home. Thus to capture the hearts and minds isn’t a twenty-four hours business.
Rural people in Batang Ai or Sook, Pensiangan in Sabah as examples are not informed people, even the RTM channels are not available, and if infrastructure like fixed telephone line is not accessible to them then you can forget talking about sending sms. Their day’s activities is traditionally planting rice, beside, may be fishing in the river.
When the sun sets, day turns dark as early as half past six, in houses is even darker. What else can they do besides making babies? I would have thought life in kampong at this era should be more exciting than this. Someone, new inspiring politicians must do the uplifting.