This is the mid-point of the 12-day 11th Sarawak State General Election, and the four-prong strategy of the Sarawak Barisan Nasional campaign must not be underestimated as seven of the 13 seats carved out of the 12 State Assembly seats won by the DAP in the last general elections are in the “danger list” for the May 7 poll.

The four-prong strategy of the Sarawak Barisan Nasional election offensive are:

1. The Adenan effect.
2. The Najib effect.
3. Politics of Money.
4. Politics of Fear and Intimidation.

The Sarawak DAP strategy in the 11th Sarawak State General Elections are two-fold:

(I) to defend and win the 13 State Assembly seats carved out of the 12 DAP seats won in the last general elections; and to achieve a breakthrough by winning a few of the Dayak-dominated seats in the other 18 constituencies contested by the DAP;

(2) to prepare Sarawak DAP for a major plan to win the Sarawak State Government in the 12th Sarawak State General Election in 2021 if the DAP succeeds in demonstrating that it is not only capable of defending its state assembly seats in the urban areas in Kuching, Sibu, Sarikei, Bintangor, Bintulu and Miri but also to get support outside the urban areas like Tasik Biru, Mambong, Serian, Simanggang, Pakan, Mulu and Murum. Read the rest of this entry »

The Prime Minister, Datuk Sri Najib Razak is fighting for his political life in the Sarawak state general election on May 7.

This is why he is campaigning as if the 11th Sarawak state general election is the 14th Parliamentary general elections, as he himself had declared on Nomination Day that the Sarawak polls on May 7 will be a “precursor” to the 14GE in two years’ time, which will decide his future as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

This is also why he has aided and abetted the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Adenan Satem in the abuse of Sarawak immigration autonomy powers although Najib should know more than anyone else that it is unconstitutional, illegal and against both the word and spirit of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement to ban Malaysians who are not Sarawakians from entering Sarawak for the sole purpose of carrying out “legitimate political activities”.

Najib is doing a third thing in the “fight for his political life” in the Sarawak state general election – bringing the entire Cabinet of 37 Ministers to campaign in Sarawak under the guise of holding the Cabinet meeting in Kuching next Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his campaigning for the Sarawak Barisan Nasional in the 11th Sarawak state general election, promised that he is committed to bringing Sarawak to greater heights so that it will be on par with Peninsular Malaysia.

Before Malaysia was formed in 1963, many missions and study tours from Sarawak and Sabah were organised to visit Peninsular Malaysia to convince Sarawakians and Sabahans that Sarawak and Sabah would benefit if they agree to form Malaysia with Malaya and Singapore, promising that Sarawak and Sabah would enjoy the type of development in the rural areas in Peninsular Malaysia if they chose to federate with Peninsular Malaysia to form Malaysia.

The series of study tours and fact-finding visits by Sarawakians and Sabahans to Malaya succeeded because Malaysia was formed on Sept. 16, 1963.

One clear promise that Tun Razak, father of Najib, made on becoming the second Prime Minister at the end of 1970 was that Sarawak and Sabah would be developed on par with Peninsular Malaysia.

I am therefore surprised to read of Najib echoing his father’s pledge some half a century ago, when Tun Razak’s pledge should have been achieved more than a generation ago, and not be used as a campaign pledge in the 11th state general elections in Sarawak more than 52 years after the formation of Malaysia.

Najib’s repeating of his father’s pledge some half a century ago is a testimony of how Sarawak and Sarawakians had been neglected in Malaysia in the past decades although Sarawak was firmly under Barisan Nasional Sarawak rule and control all the time. Read the rest of this entry »