It is so funny that an example was given by BN leaders that during the war with Communist and during Confrontation the army interfere with the radio broadcast of the enemy. Now, the BN leaders see Radio Free Sarawak as the radio that belong to the enemy. Who are these people that we have elected? Are the elected leaders becoming the enemy of the people or are the leaders making enemy of the people.

What is truth?

Truth is something that is factual and can be proven. Can I prove to you that BN did not deliver on many of their promises of development to the people of Sarawak? Of course I could. Could I prove that the money allocated under Sarawak development plan has been misdirected from the original intention? Yes i could. Could I prove that the Ministers in Sarawak are involved in corruption? Yes I could and that is fact.

The ordinary people of Sarawak travel on bad and sub standard road. A large percentage of the people of Sarawak are living under poverty line. A large acreage of NCR land has been sold by the government to private enterprise. Can I prove all  these FACT. Of course I could and that is what exactly Radio Free Sarawak is doing. RFS is only a tool or platform for the people to talk about their problems. If BN is not an arrogant and selfish body of politicians they should take note of what is said by the people through RFS and correct their own mistakes.

Now BN leaders are picking quarrel with the people

BN leaders do not like to hear the truth of their doing. They cannot accept the harsh ways and words the people are using to give them the feedback. YBs must remember that ordinary people are not bound by the YB code of “honorable members”. It is an open public forum. But why are the BN YBs so proud and insistence of the people”s respect if they could not earn it. The YBs seemed to think that they are “small kings” and so must be treated like wise.

Conclusion

The BN YBs are failing in their duties to develop the state in a genuine manner. The YBs always look for opportunities to make easy money which could be associated to corrupt practice quite easily. The internet are powerful technology and tools – how could the leaders stop that?. All equipment to create more effective communication are available today. Instead of trying to jam the air waves why not BN leaders change their ways by running this country according to good governance. Stop corruption among the YBs for a start.

What has happened to the log jam report of the Batang Rejang? Has that been jammed by the BN Government too. I bet, it has. We never got to find the truth and learn from it. We are given information that are full of lies. Which intelligent person would like to listen to illogical reasoning and pronounced as gospel truth through the Government radio.

This Government is not competent and has very poor record of managing the country with good governance. After 50 years of BN Government do we have the right to change this Government? Of course we do and so we must UBAH.

Change WE Must.

I received a few calls from my friends pertaining to PERKASA seditious out burst to burn the Bible. My friends even asked me to lodge a police report or if Christian NGO should make the police report. I replied in the negative because it is entirely “political” in nature. Due to the coming election, UMNO agent, PERKASA under directive by UMNO strongman uttered this holier then thou words “burn the Bible with the word Allah”.

The subject is a trap

The reason is quite simple that UMNO who dominate BN  enforce their will on BN  becuase BN has no more issue in which they can win an argument with PR. UMNO / BN politics is all about RACE, RELIGION and ROYALTY. If you enter into an argument over the above topic you will not win. If  UMNO / PERKASA say anything seditious on the subject of RACE, RELIGION or ROYALTY  it is alright. But if we non UMNO  / BN said it, that will be seditious. They will use their special power to lock you up.

These subjects are UMNO / BN specialty. It is not quantifiable and therefor is not measurable.  But if you talk about BN poor management of tax payer money, corruption, cronyism business, crime, education etc BN will shut up because many of BN policies represent self interest and is therefor rotten for the rest of the Malaysian. Their results in such areas are bad and insulting to the intelligence of average Malaysian.

PERKASA leader is our strategic tool

When PERKASA leader open his big mouth and with an idiot logic he turn off many fence sitters who in turn will support PR. So why bother about him?. He should be encourage to say anything and everything he wants. The more he talks the worst it is for BN. My Malay friends told me that the PERKASA leader intention is to divide and rule the Malay. In that respect he is not only failing but he is seen as a person with an IQ of certain animal but definitely not a dog because dogs are a lot smarter.

Conclusion

Your vote is for the future of Malaysia. Do you think we have any future with such person the like of PERKASA leader to run this country? It is time for UBAH and Change WE Must.

Come election, the Government would be busy resurfacing road, laying water pipes, erecting power lines, clearing new roads, doling out minor rural projects, giving little chicks as in Sri Aman and promising the sky to the people etc and then proudly declare to the people of Sarawak that only a BN Government could help and bring development to Sarawak. Many are still convince that only BN can bring progress to Sarawak. Why?

BN is equated with Government

The daily pounding of propaganda by BN make people think that BN is one and the same with Government. This “truth” is just as good as any that all instant noodle is called Maggi and every tooth paste is called “Colgate”. At one time all powder detergent is called “Omo” but now that has changed but gradually. BN has managed to convince people that BN or the Government is one and the same thing and that all other political is opposition. Without BN, some BN supporters dare say that they will be no more government. They say, if you do not vote BN, there will be no more schools, clinics, government offices etc as there is no more government. Due to their lack of education many Sarawakian believed in those statement.

So you see, what has the Opposition given you? The Opposition has no money and talk only. For us, armed with knowledge, we know that the state and country money is only held by the government and should be spent according to the approved budget. Who ever win the election will have the power to use the money to run the government  and  provide development for the country.It means, the communication of this basic information to make the people understand the different roles of a governing party and the opposing party lies in the hand of those who knows. For now, the Opposition is using Radio Free Sarawak to open up the issues and accelerate the political education of the ignorant voters.

Interesting enough, components of the Government instruct this ignorant people not to listen to RFS and even reinforced the lies that the Opposition is only out to cause trouble. There lies the root cause of “ignorance” among the rural community and for the BN leaders to take advantage of them. It is done deliberately by BN.

To me, it is an unfortunate practice by BN by keeping the people ignorant and knowingly make them poor for ease of manipulation during election.

Why BN want to play demi-god?

Politicians who want to control power has very little conscience. Why do they want to create a situation that the people cannot live without BN when that is totally rubbish. The BN government ensure that the people are always poor so that they become dependent to BN. Will such political approach help to accelerate our progress towards the 21st century? On the other hand we hear of the government talking about opportunity in SCOREs, higher income, higher standard of living, fairness to everybody etc while the basic action of BN is to put the people down.

Why do BN need to misled the people in order to stay in power? Why did BN need to put people down in order to stay on top with political power in their hands. I know there are many such questions and that is the more reasons  we have to help spread the truth to the people.

The ignorant population is discourage to seek advise and counsel from the Opposition and even Opposition activities are being sabotage. I cannot see how this can be called democratic when the “rights to know” and “rights to decide” is being checked closely by BN. This is more like “dictatorship” rather then democracy. The voice of the people is being suppressed and ignored because the government has a two third majority in Dewan Undangan Negeri.

Use of threats

Politics of fear is very common and it reaches to every strata of our society. Even the most educated Dayak and the most successful business men succumb to this threat of being isolated from the government main business opportunity (contract and quota). We cannot blame them because they feel that their survival depended on being associated with BN. But among the other races who resides mostly in the urban areas, their business with government is huge but yet they are able to take action to vote for a change in government without disassociating themselves from the power that be. Is that being cunning, dishonest or simply put the wisdom of survival or master the art of survival>

Some of us think that by surrendering our selves willingly we will get benefits from the power that be. We know that this is not true. Some of us sell our soul too cheap for a short term gain while some sell their future to earn a few dollar more. Some even craved for power as community Chiefs. Whatever it is, prostituting our rights and what we deserved should not be the norm but an act that Sarawakian should abhor.

Conclusion

There is always a starting point and an end to all things. Take this opportunity during PRU 13 to end BN power to rule Malaysia. Once PR win Putra Jaya, Sarawak BN Government may not be able to take the pressure and many of their supporters will switch side. For us Dayak, we are duty bound to help make the change because our land, our heritage all hinge on us changing the power base of BN.

In all of you I trust that we will bring changes to Sarawak in the near future.

Aram bela berubah meh kitai. Change WE Must

This would be my first article for 2013 and I am glad to be back and writing down my thoughts. I read all the comments and try to gauge what is the level of our thinking and what are we thinking about. I would like to address both questions in order that we can move forward in our discussion. The intention is not to conclude who is right or wrong but it is important to recognize that our thinking do indicate changes in our perception and our action.

A little recap

Before going any further, let me summarize the little things that has happened around me. The preparation for PRU 13 has stepped up in tempo despite continued indecision by the Prime Minister. There are still a lot of uncertainty but all the same, planning and work have to continue for the election. I cannot say that the approach to the coming election is normal because of the gravity of the consequences to Malaysia if PR do not win Putra Jaya. So many things are stack against us Dayak and it is choking to say the least when we have enough evidences that the wealth of our land is being taken away from us for the creation of personal wealth by the country’s BN leaders.

Appointment to DAP as central Executive Committee member

Then I was appointed to the Central Executive Committee of DAP at the December 15th 2012 Convention and frankly I felt that I have to up the level of my political contribution and also to take a new role as a team member of the DAP national leadership. Thus, there are new expectation to be met. I even ponder on new political strategies to bring PRIDE and even COURAGE back to the Dayak in order for them to take action if they want to see change take place in Malaysia and specifically for the community.

Reinforcing Dayak pride and courage

The Gawai Kelingkang Batu Tempan Balang kena Nempa Ketuai Dayak ngiring bansa is very much on my mind. The Gawai will be on the 9th January till 11th ( 3 days and nights of timang) by a bard man from Ngemah, a lemambang Muyan. All are welcome. There will be no drinking and feasting but a series of ritual to invoke the fighting spirit of Dayak and to gain back our lost pride as the renowned Headhunters of Sarawak. We need this pride and courage today to make the change that we want. Fighter Balang of Batang Rejang fought the Raja because he refused to submit to the Raja tax. He was later betrayed by the Iban themselves, captured through trickery and killed.

Are we facing the same predicament but at a different time and situation? This lead us to the subject of thinking and wisdom – are we on the right track by fighting for change of Government from BN to PR?

Level of our thinking

Do we still look at the small insignificant things that BN has taught us?  (1)That the Chinese are not to be trusted because they will take advantage of us Dayak.  Is this the BN approach to split the Dayak from the Chinese. Why? If the Dayak and Chinese come together that will pose a serious threat to the power that is in Sarawak today. We should be not play race against race politics in Malaysia.

(2) That national parties is not relevant in Sarawak because that will mean we will surrender Sarawak to DAP, PKR and PAS.While in the same breathe we want change. Can any of the local opposition parties for now challenge the might o BN? If not, then we must be pragmatic enough to align ourselves with opposition national parties to effect the change.By the way, is BN not led by a national party (UMNO)?

(3) We always felt that Sarawak is different and that our issues are different from Malaya. But is our system of Government the same or different? If it is, why do we think that we can change the rule and system of Government. All these has contributed to our lost of focus in our objectives of wanting to see change and our politics generally.

In what context?

On a personal context, many people see my involvement with DAP as difficult to accept. That is what change is all about, moving toward a new environment and even to a certain extend an unknown quantity and quality. If you cannot take that ONE important step forward you will never know what could happen because you are sitting in your comfort zone.

For me, it is a golden opportunity to bring change to Malaysia’s politics where the Dayak take an active role in shaping the national agenda.  DAP is also the second biggest party in Malaysia after UMNO with 29 MPs. After all, DAP is a ruling Opposition party ( Penang ) and part of the Government in other Pakatan controlled states and also in Sarawak, DAP is the second strongest party after PBB. DAP is a strong principle party and will never sell out to BN. It is historical that DAP is majority Chinese but the party has now reposition itself as an active multi-racial party representing all Malaysian not withstanding their race, religion and region.

I used to think that Sarawak is for Sarawakian but our political structure say otherwise. We have to be Malaysian first otherwise this country is not going to work.

What are we thinking about?

What will be in stored for Dayak if PR win Putra Jaya? Next question is what will  Dayak get if BN win and remain in Putra Jaya? My other question is WHAT IS THE DAYAK GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? That is where you in discussion come in.

Some of you are even looking for a Dayak saviour! Can one single leader take the responsibility of saving the Dayak from the situation they are in today? My answer is NO. It is a collective effort and it requires all of us to work closely together. It is just not one person sacrifices, but all of us Dayak who see the need for change and we want to make the changes. In all my years of working toward the Dayak cause and struggle through the Dayak agenda, there is no safe ground when you are committed and there is NO FREE progress without putting your money where your mouth is.

How do we expect to gain something without investing in taking risk, time, money and sacrifices?? That would be a helpless and hopeless mentality because we cannot wait to be served and that others will do the work for you.

I am appealing for unity among us and not bickering and cynical remarks. I am looking for action from each of us for the suggestion that we have discussed. If there is NO action, we will get nothing my friends. There is NO charity for people who do not put up a decent effort into the work of making the political change.

Conclusion

I have said enough and now I will leave it to all of you to gauge what you can do and is willing to do it. In my limited experience, other communities would even donate $50 to the cause if they felt that they cannot do the ACTION themselves. We cannot stand around wrapping our hand across our chest, give nothing, do nothing and still expect to benefit from the work of others – when you want everything free, you will get nothing at the end of the day. Politics is not a comic book story where super heroes will come and save the little girl from being crushed by a monster.

Let me remind all of us again, please do not post a ONE LINER as it contribute nothing to the body of knowledge that we are trying to create in this blog. One liners are for tweeting and fb.

Aram meh kita sama berubah and Change WE Must.

We see the passing of a Malaysian hero who fought for freedom for Malaysia. He hailed from Julau and is the  source of the famous Iban war cry of “Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban”. I wish to take this opportunity to convey my deep heart felt  condolences to his family and may he rest in peace. For with such bravery he has given us our peace.

PW 1 Temenggong Datuk Kanang anak Langkau, SP, PGB, PGBK (Rt) (1945 – January 3, 2013)

He was a Malaysian hero and soldier from the Iban Dayak community in Sarawak. He was in the Royal Ranger Regiment and Regimental Sergeant Major of 8 Renjer (8th Rangers) of the Malaysian Army. He was awarded the Panglima Gagah Berani and Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa medals from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ahmad Shah on 3 June 1981.

Kanang anak Langkau was born on 1945 in Julau, Sarawak. He joined the service with the Sarawak Rangers, then part of the British Army, as an Iban Tracker on 21 April 1962. He was absorbed into the Malaysian Rangers when Malaysia was proclaimed on 16 September 1963. He left the service after 21 years of service as a First Warrant Officer.Kanang anak Langkau deeds

Following the death of one soldier in the Tanah Hitam, Perak to communists on 8 February 1980, the Unit Combat Intelligence Platoon of 8th Battalion Royal Rangers under the leadership of Kanang anak Langkau was tasked to seek and destroy the group of communists. They tracked the enemy over 11 days on terrain familiar to the enemy. On the evening 19 February 1980 at around 1500 hours his platoon managed to estimate the location of the enemies, who were close by. Their initial estimate of the enemy’s location proved incorrect when they found a communications cord connecting the sentry outpost to the main force and the platoon was well inside the enemy’s perimeter. Cord such as this one is usually connected to a bush or empty cans so that a sentry could use it to alert the main guerilla force. They had unknowingly penetrated the enemy’s perimeter.

Kanang, 8 metres from the enemy sentry position, launched an attack to his right flank. It then became apparent from the enemy return fire that the main force was to the left. They assaulted the left and routed the enemy taking one casualty and killing five communists. One soldier was seriously wounded and Kanang himself took three rounds but survived and eventually returned to active duty. His bravery was shown during the battle, when he shouts the legendary battle cry; Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban!, which means “As long as I live, I shall fight!”, in Iban, which is also the Royal Ranger Regiment motto.^{[citation needed]}

On 15 April 2009, he made headlines after rescuing a baby orang utan from captivity with his friend, Tay Choon Yong. The baby orang utan was being handed to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre.^[1] He is currently as a Temenggong (Paramount Chief) of Iban people in Sri Aman, where he currently resides.

On 24 September 2011, he was conferred the ‘Panglima Gemilang Bintang Kenyalang’ (PGBK) (English: Commander of the Order of the Star of Hornbill Sarawak), with the title of ‘Datuk’ by the Governor of Sarawak, in conjunction with Head of State 90th Birthday.

Death and Legacy

On 3rd January 2013, he collapsed while watching television at home in Sg Apong after complaining of chest pains, and immediately rushed to the Sarawak General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at the age of 68.^[2][3]

He was one of only a few number of people ever conferred the “Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa” and “Pingat Gagah Berani” whilst still alive. According to the Minister of Defence, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, he will be given a national burial. A wake ceremony will be held at Kuching Civic Centre on January 4th 2013, and he will be interred at Warrior’s Cemetery, Jalan Budaya at Sunday.

(This is yet another article which appeared in the previous blog before. Happy reading Cikgu Iban)Dayak have been gullible, opportunist, self centered & easily exploited by others since time in memorial…written by Dr John Brayan Anthony 4th March 2010

Paranoid Politicians

I am not at all surprised when Nyarok Enterie won the VP post in recent SPDP TGM with full backing of Tiong King Sing. After all, the contender, who is my friend Philip Ngo is just testing the water. I am not surprised when Enteri Muran aka Mohd Abdullah and Nyarok Enteri resisted the motivational programmes conducted by Dayak Intellectuals – as they viewed such programmes as ‘eye opener’ “wake up call” for the longhouse folks & students – they are damm worried that their weaknesses be revealed to their voters! Typical of paranoid politicians and Jabu Numpang is the father of all paranoids!

Naïve & gullible

Whether we like or not, we have been very naïve, gullible and easy prey of sweet talks by others to serve their own need as far as our history can remember. I won’t discount the prowess of our fore father’s courage during the founding years of ‘ngerumpang batang, ngerumpang agang’, but in every strength we possess now and then, people easily exploit us and may continue to do so out of our own foolishness and the tunnel vision our leaders have had.

Early traitors

In 1861, when Rentap fortified his position in Mount Sadok to rebel the Brooke government, it was the Ibans warriors led by Nanang and Luyoh who were bought over by the Rajah to betray Rentap, teamed up with Malays & Iban Balaus who helped the Rajah to finally defeat him till he fled to his death. We also read how the Brooke regime used fellow Dayaks from Saribas to wage series of brutal war against fellow Dayaks in the Rejang tributaries who refused to submit to Rajah from 1870 till the early 1900s – all in the name of trying to establish power and exert control on Sarawak resources.

SNAP & PBDS demise

In early 1960s we heard how SNAP was formed to uphold and accommodate Dayak’s interests with imminent formation of Malaysia and how SNAP evolved into a strong Dayak political force which was feared by Sarawak Malays who then planned the eventual downfall of SNAP. How was it done? Out of personal enmity with Ningkan, Thomas Kana and the group were enticed to form PESAKA, who then colluded with Rahman and Taib to form PBB – a modern day tool for Taib and cronies to skin Sarawak resources to the bones.

Parti Pesaka

We also have read how Dayak leader then – Thomas Kana, Jugah , Sidi Munan (Jugah Advisor), Alfred Mason (Jugah Secretary) colluded with Taib and Rahman to declare loss of confidence in Ningkan government in 1969. After 1969/1970 general election, SNAP, PESAKA & SUPP won majority seats – and whilst discussing to form government, it was then 2 Mother-of-all Dayak traitors (Simon Dembab Maja & Pengulu Abok) were bribed and happily jumped ship – after being offered by Rahman and group to be window dressing ministers, which eventually subdued SNAP chance to lead the formation of government. A frail looking yet naive Tawi Seli was then installed as transitory CM to fool the Dayak further.

Stay relevant

Sadly so, some of these gullible and self centred Dayaks are still being actively used to execute these destructive role today! Can you recall how the same Sidi Munan colluded with Masing & Sng Chee Hua foolishly rivalled Tajem and Salang which led to eventual demise of PBDS? Ironically years later, Sidi was dumped like piece of garbage by both Masing & Sng as we see today, desperately trying to use SADIA to make himself feel relevant again! My humble message to Sidi Munan – the destruction you have done to the Dayak is beyond redemption! Historian & next generation Dayaks may not be too kind to you. Make amend whilst you can, lest you be remembered as good-ridden politician.

The destruction of SNAP also goes along the same traits – self centred, greed, short sightedness of Dayak leaders – failing to see the bigger master plan by ‘power that be’ to subdue the Dayaks political strength

Cultural Arrogance Vs Sheer arrogance
Knowing Dayak’s passion with NCR, Taib cunningly introduce the most venomous tool called Konsep Baru for NCL development on the pretext of uplifting Dayak from poverty. He diligently selected Masing as Minister in charge of LCDA (government proxy for land JV) whilst Jabu continue to oversee SALCRA (another land Development vehicle). When NCR issues was tabled for debate by a DAP ADUN in DUN sitting few years ago, it was Jemut Masing (PRS Half President) who rose to his feet to protest (Jabu also support Masing) and referred the DAP ADUN as “Cultural Arrogance”.

What Masing means was simply “Don’t tell the Dayak what land means to the Dayak & what Dayak need to do to develop such land! In other word, Masing was telling the world that the Dayak ADUN already knew all issues related to land development. What we see today is the product of ‘hard work’ that Masing (Minister of Land Development) and Jabu (SALCRA Minister) had done for NCR landowners – Kanowit JV scam, Pantu JV Scam, SALCRA million Ringgit ‘success stories’. Anyone knows how much Masing & Jabu pocketed from all these Konsep Baru JV Scheme? Can anybody fathom the heart breaking Dayaks who were victims of these JV scams? This is a modern day example of how bunch of greedy, self serving yet arrogant Dayak politician are being used as tool to exploit Dayak own people!

New Political Lizard

Yet a new political lizard (mengkarung) has just reappeared in the horizon. Adit the desperado YB, has been trying to auction his hollow status to highest bidder – yet seen by many as a sick old man desperately looking for his final resting place.
So my friends DB readers, my challenge to all of us – look around us, who among us are the opportunist & gullible ones? Who among us are waiting for pot of gold or high position to blind us from reality of Dayak struggle? Who among us are willing to move beyond our comfort zone and put our life and hard earned resources on the line toward this struggle? Who among us can put your hand on your heart and honestly say – I am different?

What now?

History has taught us that fellow Malaysian from Malaya couldn’t care less for Dayak. Can you imagine how Taib and his cronies have been laughing to their hearts – at how foolish Dayaks have been and will always be, as long as we allow these political chameleons overstays their welcome.

Conclusion

Has the Dayak lose their pride?

We need to agree to disagree, as time is against us. If we love this Sarawak, we need to get mobilized. Our rivers are polluted, our trees are chopped, and our land is being seized. If we don’t do anything, no one will and one day our children will curse upon us and pee on our tombstone!

Aram meh kitai berubah. Change We Must
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PS.
Dear Dr John, this is another write-up which had appeared here in this blog. It has been saved by me because it is quite good in giving a brief description of how gullible we are, how other leaders would try to kill off our instinct for survival and how we try to withstand such attempts. An excellent insight!.

First of all, let it be known that this article should not be written as it may have negative effect on Dayak. However, the truth must be told that the Dayak will be made to split further politically during this coming Election.

1. Let us examine today’s scenario –

where PRS is being challenged by the newly registered SWP, a political party that does not get any rebuke by the State leadership. Instead, it has been given a silent approval and sanction by the high ranking political leaders. Dr. James has to shout at the top of his voice to remind BN component parties of BN constitution .The constitution stipulates that for any party and its members to be admitted into BN fold, they must be a consensus by ALL parties. Even with the utterance of one odd voice from its current component parties, there would not be any admission into the fold. Dr. James would like to pre-empt such scenario by adopting and thinking of other strategies, should he find himself boxed into a corner. The key element of PRS strategy is “sediakan payong sebelum hujan”. As such, it must be fast enough to avoid a situation whereby “nasi sudah jadi bubur” before doing anything. The worst situation that PRS face is “di telan mati apai di luak mati indai” in their fight for survival.

1. We have also witnessed the second scenario –the splitting of SPDP, first with the G5 and later plus one with Wong Judat leaving to join SWP. The G5 has been given a wide range of freedom including holding on to their government posts despite having left SPDP through a never before organization that is now known as “BN Independent”. Why did this happen? Simply because someone wants to see the weakening of SPDP so that it cannot be a political force to be reckoned with, should it manage to further consolidate their Dayak support? At the end of the day, the power of the day must ensure that Dayak cannot helm the government of the country of Sarawak. The unseen hand wants to see status -quo maintained.The last scenario involves SNAP.
2. It has been declared that SNAP will go all alone in this coming election. In the last State Election, its financial resources were provided by outside interested party to ensure that Pakatan votes would be reduced. SNAP is in a good position to fight for the slogan of “Sarawak for Sarawakians”. However, the leadership is not capable of doing that. It may have its own solid agenda to fight for. Unfortunately, when the party does not have the money to provide the challenge, SNAP has an inherent weakness of being opened to manipulation by a third party.The Dayak must somehow be going ahead in line with the progress reaped by the country. Since, we do not have any reliable platform and capable leaders to champion our interest; we have to try to look for someone. What we need now is to embark on the journey of creating new Dayak leadership to represent us instead of elying on the proven poor leaders in SNAP, PRS and SPDP.Building new Dayak leadership.

• There are some educated Dayak in our country nowadays. They could be a pool for future Dayak leaders. However, it is sad to note that even among the educated Dayak, there is a large amount of “personal character” assassination in Dayak politics. Many educated Dayak like to feel that they are better than the rest. Sadly the same people may not have a clear goal to achieve despite being deeply involved in politics. It is a shame that their harsh words for potential leaders are destructive whilst they do not have any ideas of their own on who should be the leaders. The “personal agenda” is all important to them. We need to learn to be circumspect in criticizing our upcoming leaders in order to avoid eroding their creditability and integrity which may lead to their eventual defeat. The consequence would be a big loss to our own Dayak community.Therefore, let us be more focused and objective in dealing with leadership selection by not interfering with their efforts once a decision has been made for them to contest the election. In this way, we will have a smoother environment to focus on the job of getting votes rather than trying to respond to the various scheming and accusations. This is a sure way to split the Dayak even before the election is won. This problem is contributed and created by our own self.

• Equally important, the Dayak must learn to be constructive in our approach to build a new group of Dayak leaders if we want to replace the current ones in BN. We know it is a long process to build good leadership and that is why it is crucial for us to be aware of our own action so as not to interfere with the process.

• This article is to draw our attention to the challenge of preparing a new group of Dayak leaders> It is also to find out what we all can do to ensure that they will be able to lead us into the next 10 years. We must find new behaviors and approaches to avoid diluting our political strength and purpose of politics. We are already short of many commodities in politics and one of them is MONEY. We can overcome this problem if we can all put our effort together. It had been done during the PBDS era. The other commodity which we do not have a choice on is TIME. Our time is running out as the work of grabbing our NCR land, flooding our natural heritage, suppressing our culture and religion, curtailing our job and business opportunity is going on earnestly by our detractors. Thus, we cannot allow them to have more time to master us as we stand to lose and it is difficult to get back our losses. Some losses like BAKUN and the yet-to-be constructed BARAM dam we will never recover at all unless we act now in a wise manner.

• Conclusion

The road ahead of us is already difficult. We do not have to add to those difficulties if we are together in words, thoughts and deeds. Let us give strength to one another through our support and effort. Our community need us to work as a strong energized team and cohesive in our plan and action. For lack of words, I can say LET US GO UBAH for the sake of our future.

Change WE Must
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It is quite common to see comments from contributors saying that partnering the Chinese in politics poses a bigger danger than partnering the Malays. There are several political partnerships that can be observed in Sarawak. The first one is the partnership which exists between the Malays and the Dayak in PBB. The second is the partnership between the Dayak and the Chinese in SUPP and the third is being the presence of some Chinese and the Dayak in SPDP. Until the dismissal of Larry Sng, PRS was then very much in similar situation but now this party is basically in existence for the Dayak only. In other words, we can see that the Dayak are partnering any other races in politics.

Dayak and Chinese in DAP

For the sake of our discussion, we shall talk about the partnership of the Dayak and the Chinese in DAP. Many people have questioned the sincerity of the Chinese as partners in politics. The Dayak are doubtful about the policies of this party in relation to the interests of the Dayak. Generally, the Dayak think that DAP is not for them. Actually, it is wrong to make a preconceived claim that DAP is exclusively for the Chinese. This is because its members are all along multi-racial and from various ethnic backgrounds.

In Sarawak, however, in the past DAP seemed to have commanded a greater support from the urban Chinese only. The Dayak then had several other Dayak-based parties like SNAP and PBDS as political platforms, resulting in impressions that DAP was really for the Chinese only. With the deregistration of PBDS and the abandonment of SNAP by the Dayak, coupled with questionable performance of PRS and SPDP, the Dayak do not have any effective platform. A growing number of urban and the younger generation of the Dayak, having been made aware of the current problems gripping the community, have no other better option but to associate themselves with DAP. As a result, many Chinese candidates from SUPP had been caught off-guard thereby conceding the seats to DAP; as evidenced in the last State Election.

Racial Politics

Historically, in Peninsular Malaysia the political parties are divided along racial lines. Thus, we find UMNO is almost exclusively for the Malays, MCA for the Chinese and MIC for the Indians. Perhaps due to an uncontrollable mismanagement of our country recently in light of high profile corruption cases involving the current BN leaders in recent years, the world of politics has changed so fast. Previously, it was common for the Malays to support UMNO, Indians for MIC and the Chinese for MCA. Things have started to change tremendously that Malaysians have started to abandon racial politics mainly propagated by UMNO. Instead, they have switched their allegiance towards DAP which looks more consistent in its principles. Being multi-racial in approach, DAP has easily managed to win the heart of the Malaysians. While the support for DAP from urban areas continues to rise, there is a steady increase in support from the Malays and Indians towards PKR. Inevitably, this has resulted in dwindling support for the UMNO, MCA and MIC.

1.Multi-racial politics.

The PRU 12 had brought out a new dimension into Malaysian politics as parties like PKR, DAP and PAS through PR coalition won a substantial number of seats. These parties have been successful in drawing the attention of Malaysians because of their multi-racism in their membership. Hence, we found that Indian candidates had been voted by the by Chinese and the Malays in Malay majority areas. The Malay candidates had also been voted by the Indians and the Chinese in Indian majority areas. Similarly, the Chinese candidates had won because of the votes from the Indians and the Malays in Indian majority areas. This augurs well for Malaysia’s politics as a multi-racial country.

Meanwhile, the BN in general and UMNO in particular continue to engage in racial politics. Racial politics drives biased policies based on racial lines. It is extreme in nature and mostly confrontational as we saw UMNO supporters could not accept the PRU 12 verdicts in Penang and in Perak. In fact, PM Najib also could not accept the defeat of BN Selangor and Federal Territory.

It is interesting to note that Selangor and Federal Territory are made up of mostly educated people. In politics, their choice of party is essential in discarding party struggles and objectives along racial and religious lines. As it is, the young Malaysians do not follow racial and religious line in their voting pattern despite BN / UMNO continued effort to follow up on that strategy. Dr. Mahathir is one of those UMNO leaders who thrived on politics based on race and religion. PERKASA president, Ibrahim Ali, is a nothing but a mere tool for such politics. The young voters are more objective in their choice and this has set the trend for the coming PRU13.

2.Sarawak politics and the Chinese.

In Sarawak, SUPP was badly battered by DAP, winning only 2 Chinese State seats while the Dayak in SUPP won all of their seats in the last State Election. Essentially, the Dayak support in SUPP is stronger than the Chinese. It would be interesting to see the impact of such change in strength of support in the appointment of leaders into top Government position?

Even though Dayak is the majority race in Sarawak, it is not reflected in the distribution of power in the State political leadership.CM Taib has smartly devised a political policy of “divide and rule’. This politics of divide and rule allows the implementation of “politics of development” which in essence incorporating all of the BIG businesses in Sarawak under only a few politically influential people. These few political leaders have been backed-up by the Sarawak rich. Most of these rich people are actually created by politics of development through timber concessions, plantation lands and big government contracts. It is quite common to see the Chinese involved in these big businesses because of their capability coupled with good business networking. CM Taib is propagating extreme capitalism to create very few rich people.

3.The implication of Taib’s extreme capitalism

The Dayak take it as a fact that Chinese are the people who rob them off their land. What is true is that the Dayak lands have been given to Chinese by PBB leadership. This is a part of divide and rule by PBB in weakening Dayak’s future. PBB would then be happy to spread such propaganda that if the Chinese in Sarawak take over the State Government through DAP, all the Dayak land in Sarawak would be swallowed by the Chinese. The fact is, Sarawak Dayak land has already been given away by PBB/ Taib to rich investors, leaving almost nothing for Dayak to build their livelihood. So Chinese, Malay and Dayak cronies have managed to own hundreds of thousands hectares of land with titles while the indigenous people of Sarawak (the Dayak) are given crumbs.

Therefore, we can see that getting the crumbs is the result of the Dayak partnering the Malays in PBB. The Dayak partnering the Chinese in SUPP also have nothing much to gain. But the Chinese in SUPP, given their interests in business and are being BN cronies, have managed to get lands for themselves from the State political leadership. It is therefore not quite right to say that Dayak will be worst off if the Chinese take over the State leadership from the Malay\Melanau Muslim. During his office, CM Taib has taken over a large portion of of Dayak NCR land as well as refusing to give them the land titles. Even though he has been doing this over a period of about 31 years, which is quite a long time for the Dayak not to see the problem, why do the Dayak still support BN?

4.Dayak have always been a substantial political partner in BN.

Even though we have always been a major partner in BN, why the Dayak do not get the fair share as the Malay or Chinese? There are many possibilities. Two of them which we can share together are as follows: Firstly, the Dayak leaders take the Dayak politically generated business almost exclusively for themselves. Some of them do not even share with their cronies and supporters. And secondly, the Dayak leaders do not see the importance in assisting the other fellow Dayak to gain something economically as good for the whole community. The Dayak leaders always equate capable, skilled and knowledgeable Dayak as a great threat to their position. The Iban adjective word for this kind of leadership trait is “kepapas”. It has a character of “not wanting to see success by being selfish” to other Dayak least they will take over their position. This may sound like a blaming game but unfortunately that is the truth.

Many Dayak leaders, while still holding their positions as cabinet ministers in the BN government, are not at all helpful to the Dayak. As often the case, it is only after leaving their cabinet positions that they try fruitlessly to help the Dayak. By then, they apparently have no authoritative power to do so. It’s too little too late. In other words, it seems that the Dayak leaders are hopeless and helpless when they are in position of a cabinet minister. With due respect, TS James Masing is one of them. He has been appointed a cabinet minister in charge of Land Development but without any financial allocation from the State government of CM Taib. Why is the Dayak leadership like this? The Dayak in general have a feeling that the “pressure” placed upon them by CM Taib is all too frightening for them to be able to do anything. As a result, they prefer to closely guard their political positions until they are ludicrously not able to try anything for the Dayak who have supported them in the first place.

5.New partnership in politics

Ideally, there should never be any fear for Dayak to partner the Chinese in politics. There is little doubt that we have many truths of our bitter experience when dealing with the Chinese in businesses. But we cannot lament on the same story over and over again. Instead, we must take note that we should not be followers all the times. We can make ourselves as equal partners by focusing on building the future of Sarawak and Malaysia by managing the relevant issues. As long as we have “racial” tendency in politics such as in UMNO, MCA and MIC, it is always constricting. We must release ourselves from such constriction that is self imposed. We have to accept that the Chinese are very much part of our life. They are an important part of creating development in our country through their investment and industrious traits.

For now, the rich Chinese are mostly BN cronies. We have to take note that no matter who forms the government, any businessman will always find ways to grab opportunity or to create one. It is not “racial” based but an individual trait. The Chinese love to do business without mixing it with politics. On the other hand, the Dayak tend to shy away from each other if they do not belong to the same party. Confusingly, we mix the two up. The Chinese does not make such differences seen at all. In their belief system, “cari-makan” and politics are a world apart. We Dayak need to acquire such wisdom and thoughts in our daily life.

Conclusion

We Dayak can actually partner any other races provided we have a clear goal, discipline, competency and most of all with clear vision of the future of what the Dayak should be. So far, our current Dayak political leaders have failed to do this. We have partnered every other race but, in the absence of clearly established goals, the Dayak have been made to suffer. Our political partners should be complimentary in helping us to achieve our goals. If we perceive every other race as a threat, then the Dayak might not be able to move forward. We are going to be forever shackled by our own value system. We will continue to get stuck at the bottom of the country’s economic pit. Hence, we should be brave and ready to face any challenges by adapting to changes.

Aram meh kitai BERUBAH and do not fear changes. We live in them. And you know that we can rise up to that challenge.
Change WE Must.

I was very disturb when I read the part that the Chief Minister of Sarawak has got his hand directly into our oil and gas resources working through a proxy called Rimbuna Hijau ( RHPetroGas Sdn Bhd) to rework certain oil and gas field in Sarawak. This is against the backdrop that Pakatan Rakyat promised to set up an independent Sarawak Oil and Gas company belonging to the State Government to maximize the already used up oil field. In this way, Sarawak can enjoy better revenue from oil in future and develop a company that has capability to go and prospect for oil overseas by acquiring experience, knowledge and skill working on home grown oil and gas environment. Why did the Chief Minister choose to be so selfish and greedy?

20 years oil reserved left

We all know that expert has estimated that we only have 20 years left of our oil and gas reserve. This reserve is not in our hand but in the hand of Petronas. The Federal Government has decided not to increase the royalty of 5% paid to sarawak. The Pakatan Rakyat promised an increase to 20% of our oil royalty. I always maintained that we should have it 100% and then we can pay Petronas as our strategic partner and one of the outsourcing resource. The oil rights should be in the hand of the State and that would allow us to develop our country based on our plan and needs and not based on standard and guide given by the Federal Government. Of course we will give some money back to help the central government to support some of its function.

We should tear off that Petroleum Development Act of 1974 and create a new one to favor the state has oil and gas.

Sarawak is a colony

We cannot deny this fact when our main source of income is taken by Malaya and our development plan must be approved by the Federal Government too. The growing sense of wanting to get out of Malaysia is simmering which is such a letdown but then the State has been a late down by the Federal Government and we have a BN Government in Sarawak that continuously exploit our natural resources to feed the BN YBs. We Sarawakian must stand united and reject this wanton exploitation of our natural resources for politician self gain and also our land for BN to launch a modern day feudal system. This feudal system will enslave us Sarawakian whereby in the future our children will be forced to buy expansive land and houses and a slave to capitalism built on monopoly.

Do we have a future at this rate

Some of us may felt that we have made it just because we receive University education and a good job. The rate of run away inflation is ahead of your income increase and the actual value of your investment is almost zero due to market forces that is contributed by the current government poor fiscal policy and practices. We are having rm580 billion national debt which represent 55% of of our national income. Yet, the government continue to implement give away free money in the most wasteful way just to win election and stay in power to rule with their fancy idea of a “supremacist race. Thus prudent fiscal management is one of the weakness of this country at this moment. Do we still want to vote for such mismanagement? I pray not!

Conclusion

Our trees has been taken by RH, and so is our land for their reforestation investment and oil palm plantation. Now RH has been given our oil rights. May I asked you what is so special about this particular citizen that he shares and own most of our natural wealth and give us non in return.Don’t you think that we should have a tribunal to look into this misdeed should we have a new government?

Sarawakian should stay united and insist on our rights to ensure that the wealth of our natural resources is shared and save for our future generation. Build good road for us, provide clean water, electricity and even provide us with decent medical care and school building facilities. Just ensure that we have enough land to plant food for our future generation.

Aram meh kitai berubah lalu tukar meh perintah ke diatu. Change WE Must

“As sure as the sun rises tomorrow” the building of 12 big dams in Sarawak will continue said the Chief Minister of the Government in Sarawak. This is in response to Hydro Tasmania imminent withdrawal from the Murum dam project after being pressured by GREEN interest in Australia and other countries of the world after appeals for help from NGOs such as Save Rivers and many more. Actually, it does not seem like a pull out for people who are familiar with construction. It is more like demobilization process, that is expert stated leaving when their scope of work is completed. To say that Hydro Tasmania will pull out by end of 2013 is just at the end of the project. If the Hydro Tasmania leave immediately NOW that would have some impact and meaning to the construction of the Murum dam.

What does all of this mean – any bluff or lie by the Government and other stakeholders.

As the sun rises tomorrow

The line “as the sun rises tomorrow” stirred in me a strong sense of the implication of the word. Firstly in an old song, a lyric from a song entitled Tom Dooley it ran like this:

“As the sun rises tomorrow, you will be hang to die”

That is a distant probability but many people who lost their land to “land grab” would want that to happen also to those whose land has been probably to those who drown their history with dam water. We should be all against the government who treated us like fools. Tai Manok say he will not lose sleep because they are certain people whose opinion account for nothing even if they are directly affected by the dam. Such is the caring attitude of our government.

Did we use our natural resources properly

The evidence that I saw indicated differently in that the government has ignored or put the agenda to develop the rural area at its own convenience. In election all these rural areas will vote BN without fail. The BN strategy is to keep the rural expectation high but deliver the minimum to exploit their gullibility. It works very well and still is today. Many rural leaders are vying to be appointed to certain community leader post and this is a strong motivation and reason to support who ever is in power today. The longhouse leadership wanted to be seen as powerful, like and respected by the civil service and therefor the MRP is important. The people in the long house find it difficult to ignore the plea by their leaders to vote BN as there is always an element of threat in the leaders words.

That make our rural population helpless. BN exploited this situation to the hilt. BN people take advantage of this situation and try to advance their personal financial agenda by signing out the rights of the community to perspective JV plantation investors.

Oil and Gas

Now Tai Manok has given himself rights to explore oil and sell it through is proxy in Rimbunan Hijau. Why is the rights to our oil given to individual. shouldn’t the government start a Sarawak State oil company and develop it to provide better economic safety name for the country future?

Does it not seems too much for Tai manok to rob us of our natural resources and claim it as his own. Can a man be that evil? Yes, it seems Tai manok just did.

Now where do all this lead to?

It leads to a merry around with much ado but without result. I would like to say it is like a pcoc poco dance, without an end. An without an end to what? Without an end to being marginalized and made a tool of BN to secure power – thus the tag line “fix deposit”:.

As the sun rises tomorrow, the elected government will continue with their habit of power abuse, lies and more lies. The people with mouth agape wait for the crumb to fall from the BN table. It is a rotten situation I can tell you.

What can we do?

Pakatan Rakyat should continue with talking about policies that are inclusive to all. Ideas and plan to increase the income and wealth of the rural people so that they have a hope of a better future. This is an opportunity for the educated Dayak to drive home the message of hope by working toward changing the environment and setting new objective and target for the future of their children.

Conclusion

With so much pain, anxiety and confusion today over our future, we should then decide to be united and strong in our conviction to change this government and work for a better future. Pakatan Rakyat would be more sensitive to rural need and also discarded the culture of corruption, lies and deceit.

Aram kita sama Berubah. Change WE Must.