Prosperity For Taib And BN, Poverty And Misery For Sarawakians

Written by  Selena Tay, Malaysia Chronicle

Chief Minister of Sarawak Taib Mahmud has urged Sarawakians going to the polls on April 16 to vote BN for the sake of peace, prosperity and progress. It is the umpteenth time he is making such a call. This has been Taib's theme throughout his walkabouts in Sarawak. This is also BN's theme come every general election and it has been this way for the longest time.

So far, the gullible Malaysian electorate have fallen for this line until the March 2008 tsunami blew in. After that, not only were many Malaysians awoken, but things have never really been the same. And that is for the better, many pundits have said.

However, Taib's and BN's strong point is that they control the mainstream media and thus they have the power to manipulate the minds of the Sarawak electorate, most of whom lack access to the alternative media.

Malaysia Chronicle spoke to Fuziah Salleh, PKR's Kuantan MP who is in Sarawak to help the Pakatan Rakyat bid to wrest the state from Taib. She commented that the word 'prosperity' in used heavily in the BN slogans is very debatable.

"Whose prosperity are you talking about?" Fuziah asked.

Poverty all over

It cannot be denied the native people of Sarawak have been bullied and taken advantage off due to their ignorance. So much so that it is hard to fault Taib Mahmud for thinking that he has got carte blanche to build a wealth empire right under their noses.

Yet, there is poverty everywhere in the interiors. Basic amenities of clean water and toilets are unheard off.

A Pakatan elected representative who went over to Sarawak last week told Malaysia Chronicle that he "could not believe that he was in Malaysia; I thought I was somewhere in a remote village in Africa," he said.

Hospital facilities in the interiors are non-existent. Doctors and medical personnel from the cities have to travel by boats to the interiors.

But for those who can hardly wait for change to blow in with a new government, it is not yet time to celebrate.

Taib will never change

Taib's statement of wanting to step down is merely a gimmick to woo the Sarawakian electorate. DAP's Sibu MP Wong Ho Leng opined that Taib stepping down is akin to an elephant sleeping on a tree. It will never happen!

As for Fuziah, she has the view that BN is only good at hoodwinking the rakyat by portraying the Opposition as evil and themselves as saints. So far, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's campaign slogan in Sarawak consists only of telling the Sarawakians not to be deceived by the demons from Peninsular Malaysia.

BN has no more themes in Sarawak nor in the coming 13th General Election. That is the main reason why they created the sex video implicating Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

BN's slogan of 'peace, prosperity, progress' sounds hollow when the foreign investors know that there are still many poor citizens in Malaysia. Many people in urban areas are still earning less than RM1,500 a month.

"This is the reason why the foreign investors shun Malaysia. They can see that the Malaysian government is a big liar. The foreign investors are thinking 'if the government can lie to its people, what more so we who are the foreign investors? Where will we get justice when even the judiciary is skewed to side with the government?'" remarked Fuziah.

Smokescreen

Khalid Samad of PAS MP for Shah Alam is of the view that while Pakatan has nothing against 'peace, prosperity, progress', it is merely a smokescreen by BN as the nation's wealth is in the hands of the Umno elite and their cronies.

"Pakatan can practice the slogan to the true effect, not just in Sarawak but also the whole country. BN has practiced corruption all along so the prosperity is theirs. As for progress, what progress are we talking about when the nation is greatly in debt?" Khalid told Malaysia Chronicle.

He said the general public is not aware of BN's misdeeds due to media cover-ups. Statistics pertaining to the nation's wellbeing in terms of economy and finance, unemployment, crime rate, consumer price index, inflation rate, etc have been slanted to favour the government.

Half-truths have been told by BN ministers in Parliament regarding all sorts of statistics, including the costs incurred for holding by-elections. Wastages, leakages and bribes are rampant in the civil service.

The Prime Minister's Department itself which employs 45,000 staff and which costs more than RM4 billion to run is an example of peace, prosperity, progress. But sadly, it mainly benefits those who work for the Prime Minister.

Hunger and anger

The truth may be hard to face but Malaysia may not have progressed at all and the prosperity has only benefitted a select few.

Khalid is also of the view that if BN continues to "plunder and pillage" the wealth of the country, there may not be peace in the long run saying, "a hungry people are an angry people".

Taib has urged Sarawakians to vote for BN for the sake of stability, but what he means is maintaining the status quoso that he can continue to enjoy the trappings of power.

BN has lost the plot in Sarawak. True or not, it is perceived as having no moral or ethical principles and all their noble values have been sacrificed at the altar of greed with Taib continuing to dupe the natives of Sarawak.

"'Peace, prosperity, progress is just a feel-good slogan. There is nothing in it for the people as it only makes them feel happy for a short while. The rakyat, especially the Sarawakians must to wake up and see who is really prospering and who is really suffering," added Fuziah.  - Malaysia Chronicle