Which direction is the voting trend of Sarawakian Chinese heading to?

Nanyang Siang Pau, April 18^th 2016

 

The Election Commission had fixed the polling date for the 11th Sarawak state election on the 7^thof May 2016.

 

Since the Chief Minister of Sarawak Adenan announced the dissolution of the state assembly on the 11^th of April, all political analysts opined that Barisan Nasional under his leadership will have the full support of the indigenous people as well as the Malay voters. The state government will retain the ruling power strongly with a majority of more than 2/3 of the total seats in the state assembly.

 

In this coming election, Adenan is expected to retain his ruling position. He is also determined to win back the Chinese votes which Barisan Nasional had lost during the era of “Mohd Taib” at the Chinese majority areas. When he took over the office from “Mohd Taib” as the Chief Minister, he not only demanded the rights for the Sarawakians from the Federal government but he also sent goodwill to the Chinese community. They included the recognition of the UEC certificate, increased allocation for Chinese primary schools and independent Chinese schools and reassuring the Sarawakian Chinese are not immigrants.

 

He also declared English as the second official language in Sarawak. In addition he also helped the Sarawak People Democratic party (SPDP) a splinter party of the Sarawak United People party (SUPP) of Barisan Nasional by allowing its leaders to stand as direct candidate of Barisan Nasional in the coming state election. His approach of winning back the Chinese votes is similar to the pre-505 general election when Najib sent out goodwill gestures to win Chinese votes from the Chinese community.

 

However will history repeat as during the 505 general election all the goodies of Barisan Nasional were well received by the people but they cast their votes for Pakatan Rakyat? This is something that we should focus.

 

The social benefit of the Sarawakian Chinese is better than the West Malaysian Chinese.

In fact as far as Adenan is concerned: If in the coming state election, the Chinese voters still do not have a change of heart to support Barisan Nasional, it will not affect the position of Adenan as the Chief Minister. This is especially true as the new delineation of constituency has increased the number of seats from 71 to 82 seats.

 

Hence the areas with Chinese in majority have only 16 seats which is less than ¼ of the total seats. Therefore under such favourable circumstances if the Chinese voters still cannot appreciate and to strike a balance between the beautiful slogan and the reality of seeing Chinese rights come true, it will defeat Adenan’s good intentions. He came into power and fought very hard for the rights of Sarawakians and has fostered goodwill towards the Chinese community. Nobody can guarantee in the next 5 years will Adenan still have the patience to show such goodwill?

 

Please bear in mind the consequences after rejecting Najib’s goodwill by the Chinese voters during the 505 general election. After Najib retained the ruling power, the first action he took was to create a 100% economic policy solely for the Bumiputera.

 

Nevertheless, scandal-ridden Najib, his leadership in the Federal government and Barisan Nasional have damaged his image and integrity among the Chinese community to the lowest level. Hence to make the Chinese voters to change their hearts to cast their votes for Barisan Nasional candidates is very difficult in reality.

 

However the Chinese must realize what they have enjoyed in Sarawak at present is what all West Malaysian Chinese and non-Muslims hope to enjoy.

 

Besides championing the reorganization of the UEC certificate, commercial advertisement billboards, road signboards and names of street are not subjected to rulings on the size of the Chinese character. Adenan declared non-Muslims can use the word Allah and no business or government sector can set special rule and restriction to segregate halal and non-halal areas. In addition English is regarded as the second official language. All these benefits are provided by the Sarawak state Barisan Nasional as a fair and impartial policy. Bearing in mind these benefits were not fought for by the Opposition.

 

Face reality or impose self-exile

 

The 505 slogan of Pakatan Rakyat “Ubah” caused the emergence of extremists and racists in West Malaysia who do not respect the laws of the country but to destroy the social harmony fabric. This gave rise to incidents like the Lowyat Plaza riot, Red Shirts at Petaling Street, government machinery and business malls to become more and more religious orientated. This unwarranted dilemma is definitely not what the Sarawakian Chinese want to experience.

Will SUPP and the SPDP honour the openness of the state government by setting aside their differences to work hard to secure the voting trend of the Sarawakian Chinese? It is a very crucial move for both parties.

 

The Sarawakian Chinese must make a smart decision between slogan and reality. They must choose to work with Adenan to safeguard the Chinese right or impose a self-exile on themselves. This will let the party in power to slaughter the future of the Sarawakian Chinese. As a smart choice, irrespective of the outcome of the state election it cannot change the ruling power of the Federal government so Sarawakian Chinese must vote carefully.