The fall of Ben Ali of Tunisia and the Pharaoh of Egypt Hosni Mubarak are now part of the decadent history of the North African nations. The tempest epic centered in Tunisia has blown off the roots of the oligargic regime by a home grown uprising not this time, sanctioned by the West, Some Ayatollahs or by Jewish conspirators, but by the collective anger and rage of the people against their despotic rulers. Now the revolution of the distant land is reverberating on the shores of South China Sea across the land of mass of Borneo. This time not through street protest, but through the Ballot box, the Sarawak State Election; the prelude for change in Malaysia
Political parties which initiated and fought for independence from colonial powers, and which were entrusted and mandated to rule the newly liberated countries, after the lapse of the initial nationalism and altruism, and when the euphoria fades away, the new rulers imitated their colonial masters on exploitation of the nations resources not to be send to the London Colonial but to some clandestine banks accounts of the neocolonialist; the natives.
Political parties like Congress of India, which was instrumental in the successful overthrow of their British Colonial masters succumbed to their own internal weakness, corruption, nepotism abuse of human rights on the enigma they are indispensable and they are the rightful eternal people to rule by virtue of the participation and fighting for independence. Congress of India, together with Golkar of Indonesia. , Kuomintang of Taiwan and Liberal Democratic Party of Japan lost the mandate to rule, when they were annihilated by their own people. And Umno with Barisan Nasional is waiting for the moment of the truth; to be overthrown.
The March 2008 political Tsunami, which gave a shocking defeat to Barisan Nasional, giving an unprecedented victory to Pakatan Rakyat, throwing BN into turmoil and internal bickering among their component parties blaming one another for this fiasco. Umno now lost their bedrock Malay support, and to recapture their lost ground among them, unleashed extreme racialist, fascist, Malay Supremacy dogmas. The Ketuanan Melayu or Malay Supremist policy now become the mantra of Umno, forgetting very conveniently that the reality of demographic structure of the country has changed drastically after the merger of the two independent entities of Sabah and Sarawak, is the hallmark of their idiosyncrasy, unleashed by Umno disregarding the reality of the existence of native Bumiputra in Sarawak and Sabah. Their national agenda is the appeasing of the Malays. Just to win their favor. They promulgated a policy on the ethno religious superiority of Malay Muslim identity. Forgetting this is multi ethnic and religious nation. The Umno is trapped in their quagmire have they created, by all their racially and religiously biased policies for their own electoral funeral in Sarawak.
Long standing practices of the people in East Malaysia of their religion, has become objectionable to them. Umno’s blasphemy against the Christian faith with the banning of the Malay Bible, and the court battle against the use word of Allah by non Muslims made us a laughing stock among the world, but these arrogance and the odium has now toned down to accommodate the new political reality of ‘now or never’ battle for Sarawak. And because of the impending State Election, their three hundred sixty degree turn in handling the Malay Bible issue, freeing the detained thirty thousand Bibles in Kuching Port. And not to concede defeat fully, they stamped the Malay Bible with for ‘Christian Only’ words. The Sarawakians are now enlightened by these chameleons, who have revealed their true colors. They are now are waiting to repay for the insult against their religion and send BN to their political abyss.
Their hyper sensitivity in anything which is remotely to be against the Islamic faith is quickly followed by fierce expounding of venom and insult. And these are endorsed with half backed clerics and NGO’s, humiliating incidents such as cow head demonstration and the blasphemies of the two Al Islam reporters who went to church as Christians, received the Holy Communion, spat the wafer and took photographs, and this sacrilege was reciprocated with no persecution or apology. This is the modus operandi of the Islamists, to Talibanise the nation, with no reprimandation or apology from the government. And this is the reason for the government to take such an extremist policy in the Malay Bible issue to appease this group, not to offend the Malay voters, who are now being radicalized by Umno just for its political survival. This has derailed the goodwill and religious tolerance which is practiced without any hiccup to date, and put the nation into yours and mine predicament. And this is against the very fundamental founding principle which is enshrined in the constituition, the right to practice the religion of their choice. This noble principle is sacrificed by Umno on the altar of insanity. And now stands in the threshold of defeat in Sarawak for its ethno religious bigotry.
The New Economic Policy, which was introduced to correct the economic imbalance among races including the indigenous people of East Malaysia, was hijacked by TDM and his cronies to enrich a selected group of people who were connected with them. The the Dayaks, Bidayuhs and Kadazan Dusan were forgotten, still being the poorest among the poor. But with existence of multiple communities of natives, only the Malays are the very special; constantly bombarded and reminded with the myth that they are being threatened by other races, and in justifying their continued relevance, that without Umno the Malays will lose their statehood. Only the natives in peninsula Malaysia are emphasized and for the East Malaysians, they are only remembered during elections. Barisan maintains a corrupted Chieftain in Sarawak, allowing him to rob the state to enrich his cronies, only in return for continues support.
Taib Mahmud, the White Haired Emperor of Sarawak, with his buddy like George Chan, Alfed Jabu Masing and others, have enriched themselves with billion worth of Ringgit of properties throughout the world, and now Taib Mahmud stands as one of the richest man in Asia. Thousand of hectares of Customary Native lands has been confiscated from the rakyat, Salcra the organization which was set up to coordinate and manage native land for economy of scale has been reduced into an instrument to rob the poor man’s resources. Very poor profits dividends are paid, according to Industry standards, no profit and loss accounts are shown from the day of inception, buts some crumps are paid during election periods.
After twenty more years of the rule in Sarawak, the basic needs of the people are not fulfilled. Long house residents still use rain water, no running water and electricity is provided, when the richness of the state are diverted to enrich them. Communication and roads not fully developed in the vast Sarawakian territories, with the rich resources of land, timber and petroleum available. The dynasty which Taib Mahmud inherited from his maternal uncle Datuk Pattinggi Abdul Rahman Yaakop for the past twenty years has managed keeping the state as their private fiefdom, by bypassing the majority DayakIban population. Sarawak and Sabah are kept as subservient colonies to get the political support and the sustaining of ‘fixed deposit’ in exchange for the complicity in plundering the state. Taib Muhammad the white haired emperor of Sarawak is allowed to rule like a king; with the Chinese Towkays from SUPP to suck the state dry.
The Sarawakians must now bravely come forward to send those politicians, who were promising them for past 40 years, but promises are being kept as promise forever, the livelihood of the long house residents has not changed. The marginalization of the people who are still deprived of the basic necessities of life must be revoked, whereas the leaders who are supposed to uplift them are busy with their own upliftment. The time is ripe now for them to make a profound decision to send these thieves to their rightful place. They must come forward to break the shackle which has enslaved them such long period and enjoy what is rightfully theirs.
Make the change now or never. Be part of the new Tsunami.
If not now, when
If not you, who
No comments:
Post a Comment