Unrealistic for Sarawak to play leading role in national politics, say analysts

James Chin says the Malay establishment in the peninsula is unlikely to accept a Sarawakian for the top post, while Jayum Jawan says Sarawak lacks the political power to lead at the federal level.

(FMT) – Political analysts have described as unrealistic the proposal by a former law minister that Sarawak should take the leading role in national politics.

James Chin of the University of Tasmania said the idea should not be taken seriously, as the Malay establishment in Peninsular Malaysia would never accept any political leader from Sarawak for the top post.

Those from Sarawak will only be allowed to attain the position of deputy prime minister at most, he said.

“They (Sarawak leaders) are aware that the Malay community will never accept them. And so, they don’t bother to try,” he told FMT.

“What they want is to influence the federal government rather than run the federal government.”

Jayum Jawan of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak said the state had historically supported the federal government during critical periods, such as the Malayan emergency and the 1969 race riots, and it helped maintain a stable Malay government after the 2018 general election.

But with only 31 parliamentary seats today, he said, Sarawak would lack the necessary political power to provide stable leadership at the federal level.

“A federal government led by Sarawak would likely be even more unstable compared with the government led by Anwar Ibrahim and PKR, which already does not have sufficient peninsular Malay support,” he said.

“Moreover, Sarawak leaders, especially the Malays and Melanau within PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak), value leadership positions in Sarawak more than that at the federal level.”

On Tuesday, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim urged Sarawak to take the lead in national politics and become a beacon of hope for the nation’s future in the face of persistent socio-political problems.

He said Sarawak should take a proactive role in deciding which peninsular groupings had policies that best aligned with Malaysia’s future needs, especially given the country’s long-standing focus on race, religion and royalty issues.

 

Moving beyond race, religion politics

Both Jayum and Chin expressed scepticism about Sarawak’s ability to help Malaysia move beyond race and religion-based politics, with Jayum saying Malaysians in the peninsula were “bad students” who talked about diversity but fell short in practice.

“They (peninsular Malaysians) use inconsequential examples to say that race relations are good, but genuine examples can be seen in Sarawak among the Dayaks, Malays and Chinese,” he said.

“Malays, Dayaks and Chinese do not say un-nice things about each other, but this is frequently seen and spoken among the people of different cultures, religions and ways of life in the peninsula.”

Chin said race and religion were deeply embedded in peninsular Malaysian politics, making it challenging to address such issues without fundamentally changing the political landscape.

“(If) they get rid of it (race and religion), they don’t have a party to run anymore, so they cannot go beyond that,” he said.