A case for PKR to withdraw from Sarawak and make way for an indigenous opposition party
Umar Mukhtar
The Chinese of Sarawak have spoken; when they did not agree with the ruling party they joined the DAP. Where do the opposition Dayaks go to? There used to be the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) and, for a while, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was a prospective indigenous political platform for dissenting Dayak voices, before it was swallowed by Barisan Nasional.
Instead of being a united Dayak ruling party component assertive enough to fight for Dayak interests in the ruling coalition, its leaders were split to culminate in the formation of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak People’s Democratic Party (SPDP), which were further split informally down the line. It took the dominant Parti Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) led by Taib Mahmud to put them together again as splintered components of the ruling BN.
So guess which party was the boss and which parties played second fiddle? So apparently the Dayak political restlessness continues. Either because of bona fide issues that Dayaks are agitated about, or that these issues were cleverly exploited to promote the personal ambitions of certain Dayak leaders. It must have been the latter because the issues were never resolved and yet certain Dayak leaders became very comfortable as a result or in spite of the non-resolution.
So the issues remain unresolved, cooled down by the patronising BN leadership assisted by Dayak ‘talibaruts’ or collaborators. What is clear is that the Dayaks need champions of their rights, not apologists in the ruling coalition. That vacuum still remains. DAP’s hopes of filling up that gap will never be a reality as seen in the words of a prominent dissenter, ‘Melayu pun tak mau tolong kita, ini kan pulak Cina!’ Even the Malays won’t help us, what more the Chinese!
The economically a bit backward Dayaks have slowly bred a sizeable working middle-class with exposures to the contemporary world. They may be of differing religious persuasions but that has never been a prominent difference among them. Not if DAP has their way by exploiting religious differences to win non-Muslim Dayaks over for their head start in their forays to expand into Dayak hearts and minds. God forbid. That is their peninsular tactic.
PKR, being multi-racial and multi-religious, etc., thinks that Dayaks would naturally gravitate to it. Fat chance! PKR, being of peninsular origins, doesn’t really understand Dayak idiosyncrasies and it articulated political differences in peninsular terms much to the confusion of the Dayaks. And for the decades of its presence in Sarawak, it did nothing to address this handicap, exposing its superiority complex that these Dayaks are just too dumb to learn.
The recent haggling over seats with DAP is a perfect example of peninsular politics spilling over into Sarawak. Azmin Ali has his beef against his president, Wan Azizah Ismail. He also is wary of the discomfort caused by DAP in Selangor which also is checking his tête-à-tête with their enemy PAS. So Azmin rode roughshod against both of them in the seat squabble.
The net result is the weakening of the opposition’s hand in its bid to slow down BN in Sarawak. That is not as important to Azmin as it is to Sarawakians. So Sarawak’s aspirations are always a second priority. That’s what happens when the party is peninsular-based. When an aboriginal tribe won an aboriginal land case in Selangor, the ruling PKR state government chose to appeal against the court’s decision in direct contradiction to Sarawak Dayaks’ stand!
There’s no fit between the two. Let the Dayaks form their own party and formulate its party policies free from the peninsular leaders’ meddling in something beyond their comprehension. At best, incorporate the Dayaks’ party of choice into a PKR federal coalition. This alternative is open to DAP too when it finds out that direct membership in DAP is not a Dayak’s dream. But DAP’s record of bullying its partners is not a plus point for the Dayaks’ consideration.
It should not be Sarawak for Sarawakians, but Sarawakians for Sarawak.
