A Tale From Sarawak

Behind a thousand miles

Amde Sidik
I sense there aren't going to be a lot of changes in the way our political leaders are behaving, unless they undergo an overnight heart cleansing or brain surgery in which by the time the nomination day is announced they are not yet fully recovered.

Betulkah semua Cina Sarawak benci BN?

Perkembangan ini menimbulkan kebimbangan tentang kemungkinan wujudnya trend polarisasi seperti yang dipamerkan oleh pengundi Cina di Semenanjung Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Walaupun sudah seminggu berlalu, keputusan pilihan raya negeri (PRN) Sarawak masih menjadi topik perbincangan khususnya mengenai gelombang pengundi Cina yang dilihat telah menolak Barisan Nasional (BN) di negeri itu.

Pundit: Sarawak losses fatal if PKR doesn’t buck up

Sheridan Mahavera

PKR was over-dependent on Anwar during the Sarawak campaign, said Aeria.

PKR’s dismal performance in the Sarawak election is a disturbing omen of how the party will fare in the next general election unless it institutes painful changes, a political analyst said last night.

Political scientist Dr Andrew Aeria said the party organised a respectable pre-election training programme but it ultimately foundered in making use of those preparations during the campaigning period.

Pakatan may falter with early Taib exit, analysts say

Clara Chooi

Taib was the crux of PR’s campaign during the Sarawak state poll.

PETALING JAYA, April 27 — Political analysts have warned that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could lose its momentum in Sarawak should Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud resign before the next general election.

In their analysis of the just-concluded state polls, the scholars pointed out last night without the “anti-Taib” rallying cry to unite opposition supporters, Barisan Nasional (BN) may regain its lost votes — particularly from the rural communities.

Butt out! SPDP tells MCA

Sarawak Barisan Nasional’s (BN) parties are now locked in a quarrel over Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s extended stay in government with the chief minister’s loyalists telling MCA to stop meddling in the hornbill state.

Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) vice-president Sylvester Entri Muran chided his political equivalent in MCA Gan Ping Siew today for demanding Taib take responsibility for the loss of Chinese votes in the state election and resign immediately.

A letter from Kuching

A Kuching-based political observer sent me this letter which I am sharing with you. See what you make of it.
What PR and PKR in particular failed to understand is how the BN has worked in rural areas (Malay, Melanau, Iban, Bidayuh and some Orang Ulu). These communities rely heavily on the BN for paltry sums of donations and grants. Come elections the penghulus (appointed by BN) may be told to ensure all the longhouses under their care vote for BN and prevent any opposition politicians from entering their longhouses.
The penghulus are afraid because they receive a monthly allowance from the government and there is no way they are going to allow anyone to make them lose their allowances.

We Need Fair Election Rules

Dear Editor,

I AM a Malaysian student in a U.S. university and would like to comment on something I found outrageous about the Sarawak state election.

How is it that Chinese people make up the majority in Sarawak (something the mainstream media is not keen on mentioning often), yet Chinese candidates were left to fight for around 20 or so seats out of 71 in the state assembly?

Opposition must re-strategise, East wind blowing but not yet strong enough

By Datuk Yong Teck Lee

The reality is that a change of federal government is possible only if the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak shift away from the BN to the opposition. The Sarawak state elections results, if translated into parliamentary seats, means that the opposition can capture only 4 to 5 seats in the main towns out of the 31 in Sarawak. Hence, the opposition must urgently and sincerely re-strategise for the general elections.

‘Excited Najib not a fool’

Even though Sarawak came through for BN, the voter breakdown would have been 'sobering' for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his people.

The most important headline to me said: ‘Najib is excited, but will consider all aspects.’

I presumed that’s spoken in the context of responding to urgings that we hold general election soon.

Lesson To Be Learnt

By Amdee Sidik
Sure we learnt a few things judging from the results of Sarawak General Election, last night 16 April 2011.
For those visited the ground and observed what were said and did and perhaps later try to synchronize in logical sense from the result; mind boggling it is, but it’s Sarawak’s style!

Sarawak State Elections 2011 Results

BN Sarawak won 55 seats (Two-thirds majority), DAP - 12, PKR -3, Independent - 1 ...See Full Results...

‘Sarawak should leave Malaysia’ tops wish list in an online poll

SIBU, April 15 — An independent online survey among over 1,000 Sarawakians have found that a significant number express the wish that Sarawak should leave the federation of Malaysia and be its own sovereign country.

SNAP Supports Baru Bian as CM

SNAP today announces that it is willing to join a cabinet headed by Baru Bian as Chief Minister. The notion that Baru Bian is to be the Chief Minister has been agreed upon by Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak. This is because SNAP is a member of Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak.

Ambiga stopped from entering Sarawak

The Bersih 2.0 chairperson was told she cannot enter the state on orders of the Chief Minister's Office.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan was today barred from entering Sarawak, on the eve of the state election. This is the fourth such incident in the past two weeks.

Ambiga, a former Bar Council president, landed in Kuching at about 9am, but was told she could not proceed.

"BN leaders in self-denial, no 2/3 for BN Sarawak"

Kota Kinabalu, 14 April 2011: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Yong Teck Lee, today said the confidence expressed by top BN leaders Dato Seri Najib, his deputy Tan Sri Muhyddin, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud and Tan Sri George Chan that the BN will win a two thirds majority in Sarawak this Saturday reveals that they are still in self-denial. Contrary to what BN says, the political wind is blowing away from the BN towards the opposition and reaching the rural areas. The opposition parties only have to be careful on the last two days of campaigning and last two hours of polling when the BN could unleash their last minute tricks.

Even if the BN gets a simple majority of seats due to the split opposition votes, the popular vote of the Sarawak BN is likely to fall below 50% for the first time in Sarawak history. In the 2001 elections, the Sarawak BN had obtained 72% of the popular vote, including an overwhelming majority of the urban and Chinese votes. In the 2006 elections, the popular vote was down to 53%.

DAP shows video clip of alleged postal vote buying

DAP today exposed an alleged postal vote buying scheme by playing video footage taken by a DAP polling agent, and identifying the man involved.

Speaking at a press conference in Sibu, the party's state chairperson Wong Ho Leng said the man in the video clip is a health officer from the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC), surnamed Wong.

Bukit Assek incumbent Ho Leng also said the four women captured in the video are teachers who were engaged as election workers.

Sarawak Election 2011 Watch out for sharks?

Banners like this are everywhere around Kuching ... showing a big shark eating away Sabah
while other sharks are prying to get their share as well.

SNAP is still Pakatan-friendly

Snap's priority is re-acquainting itself to the people, says party advisor Daniel Tajem.

KUCHING: Former diplomat and ex-deputy chief minister Daniel Tajem is quietly confident that Sarawak Nasional Party’s (Snap) primary objective will be achieved in the 10th Sarawak state election this Saturday even if it fails to make an impression on the election front.

Going into the election as underdogs, Snap, Tajem said, would have re-introduced itself to the grassroots voters.

Haris Ibrahim barred from Sarawak

The MCLM president was told that he is blacklisted and cannot enter the state, with no reason given.
The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) president Haris Ibrahim today became another civil activist denied entry into Sarawak "on orders from above".

Malaysiakini was first alerted about the matter from a tweet by Fahmi Fadzil, the political secretary to Pantai parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar.

"Urgent: @harisibrahim joins the honored list of @SivarasaRasiah @millemeow and @chinhuatw in being banned from #Sarawak," wrote Fahmi in his tweet.

Investigate PKR’s real motives and greed

By Pakatan Borneo Warrior


Reply to SNAP’s Deal with BN- The Damning evidence

Sarawak Report is against the BN or is pro the BN? Why is Sarawak Report so happy to swallow the entire fabrication by a “BN supporter in KL”? Does Sarawak Report believe that if there is a plot between BN and SNAP, that the KL people will send the “explosive evidence” and “highly confidential” plan to Sarawak Report?