SNAP’s return haunts Taib and PKR - Joe Fernandez

All this has brought the current political situation in Sarawak full circle, with SNAP once again virtually calling the shots. The party stands poised as the most credible threat to the ruling coalition and well-placed to deny it the 29 Dayak state seats.

by Joe Fernandez at Free Malaysia Today

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Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, by all accounts, is thinking of going for state election sooner rather than later. This is being driven by the SNAP factor. The Sarawak National Party’s rapidly growing influence since its recent rejuvenation indicates that the Dayak majority of Sarawak is becoming increasingly restless. Taib, being a Melanau, is also a Dayak, but he’s from a Muslim minority.

Taib, according to one report, is fumbling “like a man driven berserk” for an election date in March or April. The speculation is that any date with a 9 in it, or which adds up to 9, such as 18 or 27, would be the date of the next state election. Nine is Taib’s favourite number.

With events on the Sarawak ground rapidly spinning out of control, he can no longer afford the luxury of waiting for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to accept his idea of the Sarawak election running simultaneously with the general election, which, according to his thinking, would take the intense opposition heat off him. This is especially true in the Chinese and urban areas, in many Dayak seats and some Muslim seats.

No such luck for Taib. Najib, with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad breathing down his neck, is more interested in saving in own skin than swimming or sinking with the Sarawak chief minister. He may well remember Mahathir raising the hand of then Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh in public in 1985 and pledging to swim or sink with the Harris’s Berjaya Party. Harris sank, but Mahathir swam safely to shore.

Najib, whom Kelantan strongman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah once described as yellow-bellied, is more inclined to treat Taib as a guinea pig in his bid for his own mandate. The number of state seats that Taib’s coalition can muster will give Najib an idea of how many of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak he can count on when it is his turn to face the people.

In Sarawak 2011, there are shades of Sabah 1985, when the 45-day-old Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) defeated the mighty Berjaya. Even Harris lost his deposit at the hands of the unknown Kadoh Agundong.

Senior Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders grudgingly concede that SNAP currently presents the most serious threat to Taib’s Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and its hold on power. DAP is a threat only to the Chinese-based Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), which Taib may be forced to sacrifice anyway to fend off the opposition and to better focus on what he can keep.

What particularly rankles Taib is that Daniel Tajem anak Miri, a sworn enemy, is back in the limelight as SNAP adviser. Tajem, once deputy chief minister under Taib, was a senior leader in SNAP until 1983, when it suffered a breakup that gave birth to Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), evidently financed by PBB moneybags under Taib’s direction.

Deeply suspicious

Taib, still deeply suspicious that the Dayaks would unite and overthrow his family’s dynastic hold on power, also financed the splintering of PBDS after Tajem became its president in 2003. The breakaway was Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) under James Masing. Only 20,000 members from PBDS, less than half of them Dayaks, joined Masing.

PBDS itself was deregistered and attempts by Tajem to gather his people, numbering over 100,000 by a conservative count, under the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) was thwarted by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on “national security grounds”.

Tajem parked himself at the Sarawak PKR as adviser.

The rump SNAP was further humiliated when PBB financed the breakaway Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) in 2002 under William Mawan. SNAP was kicked out of Sarawak BN the day the ROS deregistered it. The courts subsequently saved SNAP after many months.

Taib tried to have PRS deregistered as well between the 2004 and 2008 general elections. However, then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stepped in and saved the party just as he was going for the early polls that eventually cooked his goose.

SPDP has also suffered at the hands of Taib’s mischief-making, which saw half its legislators swearing allegiance to Masing and making bids to join PRS.

All this has brought the current political situation in Sarawak full circle, with SNAP once again virtually calling the shots. The party stands poised as the most credible threat to the ruling coalition and well-placed to deny it the 29 Dayak state seats.

Harsh reality

Now Taib’s past is haunting his future.

Sarawak PKR would obviously like to have some of the Dayak seats besides the two Chinese seats promised it by DAP under a condition which is unlikely to be met. DAP wants PKR’s Dominic Ng of Padungan put in cold storage.

SNAP, however, wants Sarawak PKR to focus on the Muslim seats, including the Muslim Melanau seats, and stay clear of the non-Muslim native seats. This is unlikely to go down well with Sarawak PKR, which is led by introvert land rights lawyer and activist Baru Bian, a Dayak Christian.

At one time, there was strong talk that Bian would ditch PKR for SNAP, but this became difficult after he was appointed head of the party’s Sarawak chapter.

In any case, Sarawak PKR has yet to come to terms with the harsh reality that it no longer calls the shots in Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat. Taib has capitalised on this by advising businessman Sng Chee Hua to offer to finance PKR candidates at the next state election. The condition is that Sng would suggest who would represent PKR.

This arrangement is likely to end in disaster for PKR at the polls, especially if the party insists on fielding candidates in Dayak seats.

Sng is a former deputy president of PRS and former deputy president of PBDS when Masing, in defiance of Tajem, claimed to be the party president as well. This was after Leo Moggie anak Irok stepped down in 2003.

Sng’s son Larry is a party-less assistant minister in Taib’s Cabinet – after his claim to be PRS president failed – and is married to the daughter of construction tycoon Ting Pek King. The younger Sng holds the majority Iban Pelagus seat, which “belongs” to PRS under the Sarawak BN quota system.

Who and what Anwar is, is still a mystery - Wong Mun Chee

A good politician serves society without the typical grandeur that we observe with Anwar as and when it fits his personal agenda. Whether I have my doubts about Anwar is secondary but it is your call as members of society to hold the notion of oneness without the typical 1Malaysian and Malaysian First to flush out artificial politicians.

by Wong Mun Chee at Free Malaysia Today

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A simple recap, in 1972 he formed Abim and served as their leader. In 1982, he surprised everyone joining Umno. In 1993, he was made the DPM after forcing out Ghafar Baba. In 1999 after his incarceration, PKR was formed and the rest I guess is the new politics that we see today with the same old political agenda.

The Economist ran a pretty decent piece on him with facts and actuality as they described him as the Malaysian chameleon (see link). Now let’s get down to facts to see whether he is a chameleon. While in Abim, it was a Muslim agenda, then in Umno, it was more a Malay agenda by introduced numerous pro-Malay policies in the national school curriculum.

One of the major changes that he did was to rename the national language from Bahasa Malaysia to Bahasa Melayu. I wonder where 1Malaysia or Malaysian First fits in here.

Other notable events such as the Kampong Rawa incident on March 1998 where there was a tense stand-off when politically induced Muslims emerged from Friday prayers in an adjacent mosque and marched in numbers to the Sri Raja Raja Madurai Veeran temple in Kampung Rawa.

During this incident, the negotiator, Anwar threatened the Hindus there to accept whatever he said, otherwise he said no temple bells will be sounded in Penang. Knowing, MIC, what would you expect. Naturally the temple was demolished and relocated even when it had stood there before the mosque came into the picture.

Another interesting event is of course the insertion of Umno proxies in Sabah since its inception in 1991. Naturally the progenitor is none other than Anwar. Anwar sympathisers will naturally cry foul for his follies and frolics of during his reign against the community generally, as after all he did face persecution for his ambitious attempt to overthrow the mighty Machiavellian, Dr Mahathir by another Machiavellian.

Basically it was a 'Clash of Titans' with little relevance for public concern or their need but the race to power. The interesting point to be taken into consideration is, the charmed character of Anwar did not serve his imprisonment for a cause for society, but being a sour grape and a seasoned politician, he was able to gain public sympathy through his Reformasi.

Fast forward 2011, amongst the three opposition coalition parties, the one that’s a time-bomb seems to be PKR. Why? Same principle, all proxies to ensure Anwarism, no difference from Umnorism style with their allies. Why am I bringing this up. I tell you why.

Little-birds in the sky have been chirping to me that Anwar has recently met with Taib (Sarawak) and Musa (Sabah) beyond the Malaysian waters. Now what is the purpose of meeting Umno cronies? Trust me in politics it is not about principle but where and when the deal can be struck. Even the enemy is your friend. Naturally we all know that Peninsular is 50-50, but East Malaysia is swing.

What they discussed or why, is a good guess for you as much as it is for me. Taib and Musa have been under a lot of heat and it is unlikely that Umno can hold it together for them as they need take care of their backyard in Peninsular.

Anwar has his days numbered, either he goes behind bars or strike a deal for a swing in power and in exchange for these blokes to continue with their billionaire lifestyle and fulfill his own agenda to become the PM.

You see once you in power, it is very difficult to question anything – look at Umno, a classic example for 53 years. Why go so far, even Pakatan within their four states exercise and exhibits similar agenda with lots of media propaganda for the feel-good factor, so what more with seasoned politicians.

For all you know, Anwar maybe negotiating with Najib as he would now realise that PKR is falling apart as most are Umno rejects or his proxies. I would do that, if I am a politician, wouldn’t you? Why would Najib negotiate with Anwar? Well for one, a common enemy – Dr M. Najib has Dr. M nibbling at his feet from day one since he has been the Premier.

The current DPM, a crony of Dr. M comes up with such contradictory statements from the current Premier alike another subtle proxy war. Is it so difficult to fathom this? It is always good to read between the lines to find the true agenda.

I won’t be surprised that one day Anwar will turn around and say, Najib, I think you are doing the right thing as we have a common enemy in sight, so keep me loose to enhance your position and avoid me from serving a prison sentence.

The crux of this letter is, politicians are never our savior, but we the people need to be savvy enough to understand and comprehend, with apprehension, the true objective of a politician. This can only materialise if they are steadfast in their principles from day one, not swaying and swinging for political need no matter how you see it.

A good politician serves society without the typical grandeur that we observe with Anwar as and when it fits his personal agenda. Whether I have my doubts about Anwar is secondary but it is your call as members of society to hold the notion of oneness without the typical 1Malaysian and Malaysian First to flush out artificial politicians.