Malaysia Today as a Platform for Change

Campaigning is not easy, you need money to campaign. I finance myself personally using my monthly salary to spread the word and use Malaysia Today as a platform. Raja Petra has given us a platform and I will not just sit on that platform and enjoy the view. 

By GM, Penampang Sabah

I take positively what “Better My” commented on my letter “FIGHT THEM WE MUST AND FIGHT THEM WE WILL.” Even though he resorted to calling me a damned idiot. And I hope that you (Better My) are doing your part in persuading the people on the importance of changing the Government, and not just sitting behind your computer reading and commenting on Malaysia Today.

For Sabah, I fully support and welcome a Pakatan Rakyat State Government, as well as a Pakatan Federal Government to give us the change we need. Criticism is nothing new to me. Better My, have you walked into an UMNO stronghold area to seek support for PKR? I have done this, and I have felt criticism in my face. Of course I don’t speak to the Umno members (suicide); I speak to the Kampong people who voted for them.

Some of them are friendly and nice, they say that it is good that I believe in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and that they too take his Sodomy #2 as a conspiracy to bury him for good. Some people however can be nasty. I have been asked to leave, I have been told be careful and watch out, and I have also been screamed at. So Better My, this has made me take your criticism lightly.

Some people ask, how much is PKR paying you to campaign for them? One of the reasons I am doing my “Silent Campaign” is to gather feedback from the people and channel this feedback to the leaders in PKR. I recently shared with Datuk Chua Jui Meng, Datuk Michael Bong, and Datuk David Yeoh the challenges I face on this “silent campaign”. I am sad to say that some people are still unaware that PBS has already joined BN. Some think that Datuk Seri Pairin and his party are still fighting as the opposition in Sabah.

Now we know where the votes are going. This is this is only in Penampang and Putatan which are quite developed districts, what more the people in rural areas who lack proper information? Campaigning is not easy, you need money to campaign. I finance myself personally using my monthly salary to spread the word and use Malaysia Today as a platform. Raja Petra has given us a platform and I will not just sit on that platform and enjoy the view.

I used to do that when I was working in KL and comment as well as lash out my anger on Malaysia Today whenever there was an expose so big that you would just go wild, like the MAS case. I am privileged to have the internet and I will use this privilege to share with others on what they don’t know but need to know. Most of my ex-school mates are in either UMNO, MCA, and GERAKAN; they tell me that Raja Petra speaks half truths. My response is, maybe, but the documents and SDs exposed did not fall from the sky and land on his website.

We need to work together with SAPP to ensure that BN is challenged on a straight fight basis. I have not joined PKR but I will be doing soon. Some people argue, why should we support PKR when the party is plagued with problems? My answer to this is simple, as mentioned by Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim – Parti KeADILan Rakyat is the only party in South East Asia to practice direct elections within the party.

So of course, there will be challenges, claims that YB Azmin Ali has a hidden hand in who becomes Ketua Cawangan, as well as phantom voters brought in to vote has surfaced. We don’t know how true these allegations are. It might be true, but we still need to face these challenges and work out something that will bring together the two factions. Yes, there are factions and I won’t elaborate on this. A simple example to this is, we cannot open a restaurant today and have it filled with customers tomorrow.

I too have the fear that SAPP pulls out and makes a U-turn (if it forms the State Government) returning to the BN. We wouldn’t want that to happen and I hope it does not. May a terrible curse fall on them if they do this. Many veteran politicians (ex-USNO and ex-BERJAYA) have joined/are supporting SAPP mainly because they want autonomy on state affairs. I defend PKR by saying that Datuk Seri Anwar had personally come not long ago to endorse as well as promise that if Pakatan ruled Sabah we will get the autonomy that we want. However, they argue that PAKATAN is a Peninsular party just like UMNO, MCA and Gerakan. To talk is easy, but to actually convince people is not.

I am a political nobody, and I don’t wish to be a wakil rakyat one day. My aim is to change the State and Federal Government and see what the Pakatan has to offer to us Sabahans and Malaysians as a whole. I am sick of reading “only the BN can bring development” in the newspaper headlines. Everyone has his or her opinion; I have not reached thousands (like SAPP claims), but maybe several hundred opinions that Sabah is ready for a change (based on my campaign). Let’s hope that this does not change at the last minute when helicopters fly in to bring sacks of ringgit to be distributed in exchange for votes.

The reason I choose Malaysia Today and not Sabahkini to post my findings is because Sabahkini does not allow comments whereas Malaysia Today does. And if your letter is posted on Malaysia Today, you are open to criticism. Let all of Malaysia know what is happening in the State and let them give feedback for us to consider. My friends ask, why should we allow them (Peninsular) to know our problems? That is not good for autonomy. Personally, I feel that this is what we need, if we carry on thinking that we should keep information to ourselves and find solutions by ourselves, then the voters will keep voting PBS as an opposition party without realizing that they actually are not.

I am not saying that we Sabahans cannot think for ourselves and we need geniuses from the Peninsula to think for us, but feedback and ideas are good for everyone and anyone. Autonomy is good in which I fully support it, but beware, look what happened to USNO and BERJAYA. Autonomy must not be abused, because if it is there will be chaos.

I would like to write more but there is work to be done. I look forward to opinions of readers from Malaysia Today. Try not to over-criticize but give me feedback on how this “Silent Campaign” can be improved.

Penampang Sabah