Taib: No Pressure from Federal Leaders

(Bernama) – LUNDU, 5 APRIL, 2011: Despite the rising temperature with campaigning for the Sarawak election officially kicking-off tomorrow, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is still keeping his cool, saying that he faces no pressure in the 10th state election which is set for April 16.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) state chairman said it had always been Sarawak BN’s ambition to deliver a big victory in the state election and this election would also be dealt with like all previous elections. 
   
“There is no pressure (from the Federal leaders). It has always been our aim to deliver a big majority in election. No need for this pressure.
   
“You don’t pressure people to do something that they want to do,” he told reporters after opening the Sampadi Nation-Building Camp, here today.    
   
Taib was asked by reporters whether he was facing any pressure to deliver a better election result following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement recently that the outcome of the state election would become a barometer to determine the time frame for the 13th general election. 
   
On another matter, Taib was optimistic that unlike in peninsular Malaysia, nomination and election in Sarawak were normally peaceful and smooth.
   
He said if there were any untoward incidents, “it would be the alien element imported from outside”.     
   
“We should remember that our politics has many characteristics. If there is no peace, then the people in Sarawak will understand and know that is not of our doing,” he said.
   
Earlier in his speech, Taib said the BN government had uplifted the quality of living and livelihood of its people through well-planned and far-sighted developments that not just focused on the urban areas, but people in the rural areas had also benefitted from it.    
   
The RM26 million Sampadi Camp is the 18th and the newest Nation-Building camp in the country.
   

— BERNAMA