Sarawak voted for Adenan
A landslide BN victory in Sarawak must never be confused with a return of support for BN in Peninsular Malaysia. The vote in Sarawak is truly a vote for Adenan, not for BN.
Ibrahim Sani, Free Malaysia Today
Adenan Satem’s massive victory in the Sarawak state election points to a kind of political savvy that Putrajaya must be wary of.
First, he has managed to shift the balance of negotiation power from Putrajaya to Kuching. The signs that he was taking the upper hand were already there in the months leading to the election, but PBB-BN’s resounding victory on Saturday has perhaps permanently shifted the balance in favour of the Sarawakians. From now on, any negotiation between Putrajaya and Kuching will not be on equal terms. Putrajaya has lost political currency in Sarawak. The rural natives gave their votes to Adenan, not to Najib.
Second, Adenan has managed to woo the Chinese. It is remarkable for BN to capture five seats that were lost to DAP in the previous state election. The reason the previous state government lost the seats in the first place was that the Chinese saw the then chief minister, Taib Mahmud, as an abuser of power. Even though Taib is still very much in the game in Sarawak by virtue of his position as Governor, the public, particularly, the Chinese public, believe that Adenan is his own man and can govern the state without much interference from his predecessor.
Third, Adenan is extremely savvy in exercising his political strength, not least by barring West Malaysian opposition leaders from campaigning in the state. He also banned perceived racists from the other side of the political divide. Opposition leaders are kicking up a fuss on what they deem as an abuse of power, but the fact remains that Adenan was acting in accordance with Sarawak’s autonomous immigration rights.
A landslide BN victory in Sarawak must never be confused with a return of support for BN in Peninsular Malaysia. The vote in Sarawak is truly a vote for Adenan, not for BN.
