Pakatan Rakyat for Malaysia

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Nov 7, 2010

I have always believed in Anwar, ever since he was on trial for the first time. It was not due to the fact that I believe he was innocent; it was more of the illogical statements by the witnesses’ which were not convincing, the fact that Malaysian Intelligence could find the “mattress involved” but fail to solve kidnap cases throughout the country, and many more. This made me to doubt the trial altogether and opened up my thinking to: if you have the power, you can do anything you like, even rigging a court trial will be as easy as walking into 7-Eleven for a bottle of milk.

By GM, Penampang Sabah

The by-elections are over. Pakatan Rakyat has lost the battle. The victories for the BN will be an indicator to them that they are ready to bounce back and claim back their 2/3 majority in Parliament and regain the “Lost States”. However, we will prove them wrong. We may have lost the battle, but we haven’t lost the war, which can be held as early as the end of the first quarter of 2011 based on predictions by many.

We must take these defeats positively and use our strengths to leverage on the weaknesses and challenges that were faced during the by elections. I will not use the Batu Sapi by election results to mock or insult the strong/hardcore supporters of SAPP, but I do encourage those who know not much of the party’s history to reconsider before blindly supporting it.

The slogan “Sabah for Sabahans” is not new. Go back to history and find out. I speak to a lot of young people everyday who are not registered as voters, but are insisting that SAPP is the chosen one that was sent from above to bring Sabah out of its misery. Most of the people I speak to don’t even know what the slogan means. To understand the true meaning(s) of” Sabah for Sabahans”, you need to talk to political veterans, some will tell you that it has very much to do with top positions in the state Civil Service, where priority must be given to the locals instead of in bringing re-enforcement from the
west (Peninsula) which we really do not need.

I do agree with this, and I am sure that a Pakatan Rakyat government can give this to us. Another definition of the slogan is mentioned in the slogan itself, which is too dangerous for me to elaborate. I’m sure many of you can guess what it is. I will not support it and I am sure that many Malaysians/Sabahans won’t either. It is too much of a risk and I hope it does not happen.

Like it or not, we must accept the fact that the slogan “Sabah for Sabahans” must not be politicized. If it continues, we might as well have “Perak for Perakians”, “Penang for Penangites”, “Johor for Johoreans”, and so on. Even “Sarawak for Sarawakians” does not exist, so why Sabah? I am not a traitor to my State, but we need to accept reality even if it is bitter to swallow.

Despite the poor showing by SAPP in the Batu Sapi by election, hardcore supporters are still positive and insist that the party could have won if it hadn’t been for dirty tricks by the BN. These same hardcore supporters keep blaming PKR for spoiling the opposition votes. We need to understand that Pakatan had negotiated with SAPP but the latter refused numerous times to work together. So how is it Pakatan’s fault for being the spoiler?

It is very clear in the election results that the spoiler was not PKR. Some people get me wrong; I am not anti SAPP or anti Yong Teck Lee. People ask, why should we support Anwar Ibrahim when he was with UMNO as well before. Logically, Anwar indeed was UMNO before, but he was kicked out from UMNO in such a horrible way, with trumped up charges on corruption and sodomy which are not even true. It was not Anwar who betrayed Tan Sri Joseph Pairin to join the BN leading to the downfall of the PBS State Government, only to betray the BN in 2008, claiming to have “seen the light”.

If SAPP can emulate SNAP, then I will throw my support behind SAPP as well. However, if they want to contest all 60 state seats hoping to win at least 20-30 seats, and wait to see who forms the Federal Government after the next GE, then we must fight them. This is the way of the opportunist which we must not bow down to. If many of us start doing “silent campaigns” now, we might be able to reduce the number of votes going to SAPP and the BN, thus channeling it to Pakatan
Rakyat come the next general elections.

Time is very precious in our efforts to give the BN a run for their money come the next GE. One way for us to win is to first prove to the people that we are more professional in our attacks on the BN. There should be more exposes of corruption and we must make the people understand how corruption affects them, reducing “name calling” and “mud slinging”. I’m not sure whether you will believe me, but for some people (whom I have spoken to) who don’t really understand take corruption as “perks” for the people in power.

We need to explain to the people what corruption is about and how the money could have been used to improve their lives instead of wasting funds on development projects that will only benefit the Ministers and contractors involved. We need to compare what the rakyat in Selangor are getting and what we as Sabahans are not.

My personal favorite about the Selangor Government’s efforts to reduce burden on the rakyat is the RM 2,500 donation to the family of a deceased. This is a hit among the rural folks here, believe me. So Pakatan Rakyat Sabah must go to the ground and drive this, we need to go back to basics. I am not saying that the rural people are not smart or have no education, but even at work I am surrounded by people who have education, but still fail to understand why we must reject the RM 50/ 100 for a better future under a new government.

Some people can be damned disgusting as well, I have heard someone boast before that he took RM 100 from the BN and another RM 30 from the opposition but spoilt the vote in the end by drawing cartoons on the ballot slip. I won’t waste my time talking to lunatics. Anyway, we need to really go down to the ground and educate a lot of people on why we need their support and how it will benefit them in the long run.

There will be a lot of effort from me to push for a Pakatan Rakyat State Government in Sabah, and I hope that these efforts will not go down the drain. One of my biggest concerns should Pakatan Rakyat form the government is the existence of
that ultra racist group. The last thing that could ever happen is a newly elected Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government, ending up like the classic Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (1969) under Syed Hussein Alatas. I hope that Datuk Seri Anwar and the top Pakatan leaders already have a back up plan should this happen.

One thing for sure is Raja Petra will not be silent, which is good. This is another good reason for Sabahans to choose Pakatan Rakyat as we will have the support we need from the Peninsula. Many are not aware that this ultra racist group has spread its wings to Sabah and a very powerful Sabahan who was one of those involved in the Sabah riots when PBS won the State, is sitting on a high position within the group. I’m sure many of you know who I’m talking about, especially YB Lim Kit Siang. If this catastrophe should happen, I will look to my friends in the Peninsula to help us and guide us.

A lot has been said, there is still much to be done. I hope that I am not alone in this struggle. I am currently creating a network of friends that want a change and will not just sit and wait. The silent campaign continues.