OCT 26 — On Saturday, Sarawakians in West Malaysia congregated to meet their chief minister at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC). What they heard was a one-two punch that underlines the premise of Adenan’s strategy for the coming state elections.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, addressing the crowd of thousands, delivered the first. He labelled opposition parties in Sarawak – Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS) — as “outsider parties.”
“I don’t want them in Sarawak. Who knows Sarawak better than Sarawakians themselves. I don’t claim to know Perlis, Kelantan or the other states. We can take care of ourselves, and we know how to,” said Adenan.
Separately, state housing minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg called for a formal committee with representatives from both state and federal levels to revisit Sarawak’s 18-point agreement when forming Malaysia in 1963 and establish precisely what had been agreed to.
Assistant Minister of Youth Development (Urban Areas) Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, also at PWTC, added that it is important that Sarawakians know their history in order to defend their rights.
“We did not enter Malaysia, but we formed Malaysia together with North Borneo, Singapore and Malaya. This is very important. Even our paramount chief of the Iban Tun Jugah has said that Malaysia should not be like the sugar cane, that is sweet at the beginning and getting less and less sweet in the end,” said Abdul Karim.
The point of these pronouncements is the state Barisan Nasional’s push for urban votes for the past year and a half. The question, however, is whether what had been done so far will be enough to wrest away opposition strongholds in urban constituencies.
From the start of his time as chief minister, Adenan has moved to solidify his position in the urban areas. One of the first things he did was to distance himself from his controversial predecessor — in an unmistakeable reference to the previous chief minister, he publicly promises that none of his family would get lucrative logging licences.
He also set up a Facebook page which now has a reasonable following. He abolished tolls at several bridges and gave funding to independent Chinese schools. Electricity tariffs went down amid increases in West Malaysia.
And in May this year the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) unleashed Ops Gergaji which made unprecedented headway against corruption in the state, even reportedly netting an assistant minister.
The MACC crackdown seemed to have signalled a fresh start under the Adenan era after 33 years of controversies under his predecessor. Cumulatively this has made Adenan a popular chief minister and he has continued to speak out for the urban base – his remarks on the Allah issue, for instance, had at times been in direct contrast with what federal ministers were saying.
Meantime as it has become apparent in recent years that Sarawak’s long-neglected rights under the Malaysia Agreement had been a growing concern among urban voters, Adenan milked the prime minister’s precarious political position to call for more autonomy for the state, to which the prime minister recently agreed to.
(Although what exactly is meant by more autonomy is up for debate — while Adenan calls it “full autonomy”, the prime minister only said “more autonomy.”)
With the cry for more autonomy, alongside labelling the opposition as outsiders, Adenan strikes a deep-seated nerve among many Sarawakians who are wary of their elected representatives taking orders from across the sea --- by contrast Barisan Nasional politicians in the state, at least, can say they belong to Sarawakian-based parties who in theory can pack up and leave the coalition anytime.
And this now presents a difficult situation for the state opposition, who are left with little to shoot with.
Already they are grappling with the messy state of the opposition at the federal level, despite a new alliance having been formed. With DAP and PKR led by non-Malays, the urban Sarawakian Malay voters have yet to be given a plausible alternative to Adenan’s PBB, under which the minority Malays and Melanaus have held political control over the state for four decades.
While in West Malaysia the opposition can look to toll increases, electricity tariff hikes and controversies surrounding Umno itself, among others, none of these hold particular interest or relevance to most Sarawakians compared to what Adenan is playing up.
As things stand, it is very difficult to envision Adenan not getting his “five more years.” And while the opposition in West Malaysia may have crawled forward over the past couple of general elections, under Adenan’s watch they may have been set back a few years instead in Sarawak.
It now remains to be seen whether the state Barisan Nasional can sustain this narrative after the next state elections — and whether the opposition can successfully call their bluff if this talk of autonomy and state rights taper off after.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
