DAP hopes to achieve a Bidayuh breakthrough in the Sarawak state elections with a quartet of DAP Bidayuh State Assemblymen elected into the Sarawak State Assembly on May 7, comprising Mordi Bimol contesting in Tasik Biru, Sanjan Daik in Mambong, Edward Luak in Bukit Semuja and Andrew Nyabe in Kedup.
This is part of the third wave of political change which I hope the 11th Sarawak State General Election on May 7 can achieve.
The first wave of political change in Sarawak was started in the 2006 Sarawak state general election where the people of Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu stood up for the rights of all Sarawakians by giving the DAP an unprecedented half-a-dozen State Assembly seats in Sarawak.
This created a great impact and was the precursor to the “political tsunami” of the 12th Parliamentary General Elections in 2008, which saw Barisan Nasional lost power in five states – Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Penang and Selangor.
The second political wave was the 2011 Sarawak State general election where DAP State Assembly representation in Sarawak was doubled from six to 12, with Miri joining Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu in the vanguard for political change.
This impacted on the 13th Parliamentary General Election in 2013, resulting in a whisker away from change of federal government in Putrajaya.
Although Datuk Seri Najib Razak won only 47% of the popular vote, he was able to win 60% of the parliamentary seats because of constituency gerrymandering and an unfair democratic system, resulting in his becoming the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The Sarawak state general election on May 7 will initiate a third wave of political change if other areas in Sarawak like Tasik Biru, Mambong, Serian, Simanggang, Mulu and Murum can stand up together with Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri to demand for political change and meaningful development in Sarawak and Malaysia.
In crafting this third wave of political change in Sarawak, I hope that the four DAP Bidayuh candidates, Mordi Bimol in Tasik Biru, Sanjan Daik in Mambong, Edward Luak in Bukit Semuja and Andrew Nyabe in Kedup can succeed in sending a quartet of DAP Bidayuh State Assemblymen to the Sarawak State Assembly on May 7.
If the Sarawak state general election can create a political wave on May 7, it will for the third time have a far-reaching impact on the 14th Parliamentary General Elections in two years time, involving not only the end of the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak but of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional government in Putrajaya.
(Speech at the Sarawak state general election ceramah in Siburan in Mambong state assembly constituency on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 9 pm)
