The right and wrong of Sarawak state election

Guang Ming Daily News, May 12, 2016

It was no surprise that Sarawak Barisan Nasional led by its chairman Adenan has attained landslide victory in the 11^th Sarawak state election by winning 72 out of 82 seats contested and continue to rule the state.

What came as surprise was Sarawak BN not only managed to defend its bumiputera territories, but also successfully recaptured five Chinese-majority constituencies which were lost in the previous state election.

As the dust settles on the intense tussle of the 11^th Sarawak state election, there are still non-stop widespread comments such as the messages on social media mocking the voters for lack of political awareness and bought with money to support BN.

There was this so called elite leader of opposition who had written thousands of words of election review criticizing BN for being evil and also accusing Sarawak voters for being ignorance, just blaming others for their failure.

What he doesn’t know is that his statement has indirectly exposed his arrogance, and also highlighted his lack of knowledge in democracy – All politics are local, meaning that all politics is about local issues and interests.

Of course not only oppositions and their followers are making such mistakes, many BN leaders and netizens in West Malaysia are not much difference, otherwise they would not have unable to hold themselves back telling the whole nation immediately after the announcement of the election result that BN’s excellent performance in the Sarawak election proved that the people have agreed with the way 1MDB issue was handled and also supported the implementation of Goods and Services Tax. Some even predicted that there would be a return of the urban and Chinese votes in the next General Election in supporting BN which was the case of Sarawakian voters.

However, it seems that this is not the case, some political analysts have attributed the BN victory to Adenan factor or Adenan phenomenon which means that all the races have supported Adenan for his actions and political ideas, and this affection had extended to the other leaders of BN led by him. This phenomenon was quite obvious in Chinese-majority constituencies which were DAP strongholds.

Adenan phenomenon

The Adenan phenomenon which is very rare in politics was built on his striving for the autonomy of Sarawak for Sarawakians. Under his efforts, Prime Minister Najib has promised to return 13 administrative powers (including education) to Sarawak. The second phase of decentralization of power involves constitutional amendment, and the third phase touched on the highly sensitive oil royalty and territorial issues. The state autonomy power transcends ethnicity, religions, urban and rural areas. Sarawakians have seen and also believed in Adenan’s ability to fight for the autonomous power for Sarawak.

Another point that worth ponder is Adenan has again and again capitalized on the weaker BN central administration led by Umno in challenging the contract on language and religion which is the political bottom line of Malaysia. He has even stated that Umno can never make inroad into Sarawak so long as he is at the helm.

In another words, to some extent Adenan’s popularity was built on his confrontation with the central government in Putrajaya led by Umno. And in the process, he has certainly offended many people. A series of open and pragmatic policies introduced by Adenan have drawn fierce criticisms from his BN counterparts in West Malaysia, to these conservative nationalists and religious elements, the open policy implemented by Adenan is tantamount to treason and heresy.

In view of the factors mentioned above, oppositions in Sarawak were actually not facing with the old enemy of BN, and the relationship between Sarawak BN and central BN is also not the usual relationship it used to be. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand Adenan’s Sarawak BN. Perhaps, all politics is local will be the best footnote of Adenan phenomenon.