Sarawak is BN’s secret weapon
Taken from The Malaysian Insider ( by James Chin)
This article is for Sarawak observers and Sarawakians in general.
13% of Parliamentary seats
After the last state election in 2006, many think another state election would be due in 2010. Sarawak is BN’s “fixed deposit”, to quote Pak Lah, and Sarawak’s 31 seats are worth about 13 per cent of the seats in Parliament.
However, BN will probably lose up to three parliamentary seats in the next general election in Sarawak. A lot will depend on whether Sarawak will hold state and parliamentary elections simultaneously. Right now, Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia with a separate date for state elections.
Sarawak key success factor “Vote Buying”
Many experts say that “money politics” or the direct buying of votes is a key feature of why BN is able to hang on to power there. This is especially true in rural areas and among native voters. In this article, I would like to offer a slightly more sophisticated explanation.
Before I do that, I would like to state that my observations are meant to stimulate debate. They are not meant as a general observation of the entire native group or groupings. It is not in any way related to racism or anything of that sort.
Why and How money play an important part in Sarawak?
It is simply an explanation of how and why money plays such an important role in winning political support in Sarawak. However, having said that, I believe that my observations are valid for the majority of non-Muslim natives living in the rural areas and those who have moved to the urban areas in the past decade.
Theory – underdevelopment of capitalism
My theory is actually quite simple and not original. In academic literature, it is sometimes referred to as culture deficit or underdevelopment of capitalism.
My argument is this:
The majority of Sarawak’s natives are easily bought off with a few hundred ringgit simply because they don’t understand the full logic of capitalism. In capitalism, in order to move ahead and be independent, you need capital, or in simple terms, savings or credit.
In many of the native groupings, while they understand the importance of money and what money can buy, they don’t fully understand the logic of savings. Hence, they spend almost all their income and they have no savings.
Many native households have multiple loans;
from housing and cars to all sorts of debts and HP deals. In some households, more than half of the monthly income goes to servicing the debts. They spend a lot of money on community activities (it is not uncommon to have community gatherings two or three times a week where a lot of money is spent on food and alcohol) and grand weddings.
The end result is that the majority of the group are always in debt and have no savings. This makes them very vulnerable to politicians who come offering a few hundred in cash. The amount we are talking about is small.
For example, to “buy” a 30-room longhouse with maybe 100 voters, all you need is about RM30,000 or less. These people will give you the votes for five years and all for less than RM1,000 per household.
Chinese will laugh at $1000
If you try to buy a Chinese family for RM1,000 in an urban estate, they will laugh at you. It is no coincidence that the group that voted against BN in the 2006 elections were the Chinese. I am not suggesting that the Chinese can’t be bought, rather, the Chinese will “sell” at the high end because they are not as desperate as the natives.
For the natives, because they are always short of money, RM1,000 ringgit or even a few hundred ringgit, is a lot of money. The Sarawak BN knows this and uses this to its full advantage. What is a few hundred thousand to buy votes when being in power means you can access timber concessions and NCR land worth millions.
Is there a way out?
The younger generation working in urban areas are changing but the change is too slow. Many aspects of the native culture require extensive community gatherings and get-togethers during festivals, family celebrations, and grand weddings — the old people from the longhouse or kampung cannot resist inviting all the relatives — and it is often hard for the young to say no.
Low wages and high cost of living
The problem is compounded by low wages and the high cost of living in the interior. They are not only constantly in debt, but they can never get ahead since the prices of goods and services rise faster than their income. Those with a bit of savings are those working outside Sarawak, in places like Singapore.
Political elite are part of the problem
One could almost argue that the native political elite are part of the problem. They openly encourage consumption by organising many gatherings. Most of the time, they only “sponsor” some of the events, leaving their community to pick up the tab for the rest. For them, it’s a form of control by putting their own people in debt so that they can be bought off easily and be dependent on them.
Natives living well beyond their means
As long as the native population lives beyond their means, are constantly in debt and have no real effective savings, they are vulnerable to vote buying on a massive scale. Unless the opposition can match the vote buying it will be difficult for the opposition to win in rural areas. This is the reason why no matter how angry the natives are over Native Customary Land (NCR) issues, in every election the same angry ones still vote for the BN. Yes, the natives are angry but the same natives need a few hundred ringgit immediately. They will take the few hundred, in some cases, only RM30, and sell their ancestral land through the ballot box.
Conclusion
As long as BN can “sponsor” the elections in rural areas, it will be a real uphill task for PKR in the rural heartland of Sarawak.
Dayakbaru: This is a discussion article. Please put your views forward so that James will be enlighten about the rural Dayak problems and why they keep voting BN despite their bad experience with BN.
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Inspirational word from gkm2020
Sarawak? BN secret weapon? being a democratic country you are entitle for your opinion….I reserve mine.
Tabi kaban,
In democracy, effective method of election campaign is the most important formula for winning the election. Some DB members during the Batang Ai By election did make a lot promises. They promised will change the present BN with new one (DB-Pkar) govt.
However on the hand, BN also said loud any clear that the present BN govt will bring more development to LA.
As expected BN won with big majority. This means the Lubok Antu people believed and trust BN keeping their words than DB group.
In commonsense, the politic of Swk is not CHEATING BUSINESS. IT IS A MATTER HOW PEOPLE/VOTERS BELIEVED IN YOUR PROMISE. Rakyat believed BN IS THE TRUE WAY TO DAYAK DEVELOPMENT, that contributed their victory. HIDUP BN & PARAMOUNT CHIEF TAN SRI JABOO.
Dear friends,
What James Chin has written is relevant and can be very true. It is related to money, money and money.
It is an over-spent and festive culture. It is a way of life, hard to break away from.
Money is wasted, money is unnecessarily spent.
James Chin should know looking through his Chinese eyes – an outsider’s eyes.
Much need to change. Yes, change Dayaks must. Start with spending less. Start with a saving habit. Start to have a bank saving-book.
Money is not everything. Without it, however, we can do nothing.
Without it, we cannot vote who we want to vote. We vote who we are asked to vote, because we are bought with money.
Your Equaliser.
When we grab the power we tend to be greedy, lets put it this way…why not rotate the govt with all the racial component in the ruling coalition.Reciepe for unity.
Mamit’s new post thrills Bidayuhs
The Bidayuh community here is thrilled with the appointment of Mambong MP Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit (pic) as Deputy Tourism Minister.
It meant that the voices of the Bidayuhs would again be heard in the Federal Government, Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) president Ik Pahon Joyik said.
He thank Najib & yangdikasihi for taking care of the Dayak community. He also hope the appointment would silence DB for saying the Dayaks is being marginalised.
“This is in line with the 1Malaysia concept to have every community represented in the federal administration,’’ he said yesterday
well, it is a good news.
it is good to see the BN is still in power after the next GE. here in sarawak the voters or the dayaks especially the rural ones still NEED and depend on the trusted BN gov’t which has championed their right and need for many years.
only the BN can bring the development to the rural region. the sarawak BN under the leadership of Pehin and Tan Sri Alfred has brought a tremendous success and development to this backward state.
true to itself and proved by their track record the sarawak BN never fail to score 2/3 majority in whatever GE of the past. May their continious success be greater and longer as the rakyats are hunger for development rather than choastic brought by PR, which is only relevant to the semenanjung folks.
No wonder their slogan “Politic Of Development” and “Anang Ngelaban Perintah” are the best. it has been well accepted for those who loved peace, harmony, development, equality and etc.
As much as I feel humiliated by this article, some facts remain true about us in the rural areas. We are relatively poor especially compared to Chinese and Malays or other races. This is nothing new. The fact that the Dayaks in general are lagging behind others has been the contention since the uprising of Dayakism, particularly highlighted through PBDS. The opponents to this idea of lagging behind, being poor, lacked of incomes, etc. have always been, unfortunately, none other than some Dayak leaders themselves. So much so it had led to the de registration of PBDS. Now that the Dayaks don’t really have anyone to champion their causes we are simply an easy meat for anyone who has the power and money over us. Even the ban of Iban bibles a few years ago, the controversies involving “Allah” now, seem less important than the RM1000 or even RM30 that James Chin is talking about.
But is it really true that Dayak votes can be purchased as simple as what people have been talking about? It is true that the Dayaks give their votes for merely RM30? This, I beg to differ. You know, I know that during any election in Sarawak that both money and election promises are 2 very important factors for winning the election and yet I beg to differ. I don’t believe that Dayak votes are so cheap. What you see is merely a face value!
So, why do Dayaks still vote for BN? Why should they vote for BN despite their situation as being poor, lagging behind or unhappiness over many issues like Non Bumiputra status, burning of churches, NCR lands and numerous other unfair treatments? Is it really as simple as RM30? I tell you, it is not! The key to understand this is to understand the Dayaks or the Ibans or the longhouse cultures. The Dayaks are merely humans. Like any humans they need to identify where they belong to. Right now besides being scattered in every party in Sarawak, Dayaks haven’t got any true leaders who are steadfastly championing the Dayak interest. But belong in the BN parties the Dayaks do; and they will vote for their parties! So, James Chin no matter how much money you give, Dayaks will take that money but will still vote for the party where they feel belong!
Thus if you think that it is only about money, think again. You should remember 1987 sate election, where the Dayaks had identified themselves as belong to a united group of Dayak to champion the Dayak causes, as during the Ming Court affair; the Sarawak State Government was almost toppled. You have to remember it wasn’t the RM1000 or the RM30 that caused the Dayaks to vote for PBDS then! It has been proven then, so your notion that Sarawak is BN state weapon because of money or RM30/vote is not 100% true!
This Mr.James Chin might be as confused as the DB. “Politic of Development” is of course concerning disbursement of money as expenditure to sustain the going ahead progress. In the ” change we must ” spirit is to start all over gain and redo the work that we have done in the last 47 years. You want to go forward or backward?
Let talk about the campaigning scenario. Excessive “money politic” is not allowed but if the project which is nearer dateline should be completed before the election than have to use cash to buy materials. This is one of the reason you see trucks laden with timber, planks, zinc sheet,cement is no other than a quick fix for the unfinish jobs which are suppose to be completed by now i.e before the polling day.
Again after a hard day work it is going to be followed by party in the night and followed by speeches of the YB’s on his plan or rather the gomen plan of the next 5 years or so.
Some projects can fall under short and long term catergory.Construction of roads cannot be in just 5 years but they needed longer period perhaps 20-25 years and inorder to get this materialise the same YB’s must retain his seats for the specified period of time.
THIS IS NOT A VOTE BUYING BUT is matter of you must vote a gomen for able to get this development. The election is conducted in a fair and transparent manner during vote counting and BN is always the choice of the rakyat.
Dayaklama:
“Some projects can fall under short and long term catergory.Construction of roads cannot be in just 5 years but they needed longer period perhaps 20-25 years and inorder to get this materialise the same YB’s must retain his seats for the specified period of time.”
–Hehehe Dayaklama…Try to re-define the meaning of BN delay tactics eh?!!
That’s how BN delaying development tricks like keeping wine the longer you keep the better, higher value it is for future election period.
When development delayed so do quality of life and economics factor. Ever heard ‘Keep the Dayak poor for ease of control’???
“THIS IS NOT A VOTE BUYING BUT is matter of you must vote a gomen for able to get this development. ”
–Again, development is HUMAN RIGHTS – deliver properly without DELAY.
But hey, Dayaklama must support the UMNO protest lah! You hate BN UMNO or what?
Or Dayaklama like the rest of Dayak BN leaders afraid to lose more big projects from Federal BN and loose easy money ali baba contract money so silence is golden??
EITHER YOU WITH US DAYAKS OR UMNO NOW.
King Dino,
An appoinment of an ass.minister in the form of Indiana Dawos Jones after King solomon quit ( for whatever reasons ) cannot undo the sufferings of Bidayuh overnight.Many Bidayuh kpgs within an hour drive from Kuching town still do not have treated water supply and electricity today.
What a statement from you?
Mr.Chin said that Sarawak’s number of MPs equals 13% of Malaysian Parliamentarians and regards them as BN’s ’secret weapons’ in a General Election.
Evidently,this ’secret weapons’,plus the ones from Sabah had proven to be effective in winning the last G.E.,for without them BN would have lost.
The opposition should think and work on how to deny BN the use of these ’secret weapons’ by draining its ‘fuel and fire-power’ that is the voters. That would render them ineffective and harmless.
How to do that?
THROW IN THE SPANNER!! That would wreck the machinery! Utilize the issues that are sensitive to the voters,like these ‘burning of churches’ and others that have been harped-on umpteenth of time in this blog!
The BN condition is now muddy and murky! Perhaps its rewarding to fish in muddy water, eh!? The opposition can yet win the next G.E.
[...] BN are more important. But here’s how the rest of Dayaks well, for whatever reason still supporting BN, to spoil-vote for BN: Put ‘CROSS [...]
Sir John Jamban,
Can you yourself or any of DayakLama AD HOC COMMITEE List out the RM70 Million Projects which has been promised during Batang Ai By Election into 3 Categories?
1.Sudah di laksanakan
2.Masih dalam perlaksanaan
3.Masih Dalam Perancangan
Or all of it is “Masih Dalam Perancangan Untuk Merancang Perancangan Yang Terperancang”???????
Janji manis mu hanya di bibir sahaja..hahahhaha
Hey it seems that a lot of Dayaks are happy that they remain poor under BN! Especially John Jamban and friends.
Telaga Kumang, John Jamban, Deo, Dayaklama, Changgop enggau ke bukai.
Our Nation is busy with current issue and Church Burning situation. Muslim burn the Church to stop the court order to use Allah word in Malaysian Injil.
Only in this article you are active. Why don’t you joint the nation on the above issue?
No matter you support or condemn it, but your Dayak Task Force to control the race descrimination lead by John Jamban is needed to do your part. Or other wise it is just your propoganda as I mention before.
Malu amat meda peranggai kita bakatu menyadi. Baka ke nadai utai orang laki bansa Dayak kita peda aku.
Nyadi jako orang ke ngumbai kita bula, penipu, semina ngemansang ka diri empu aja serta takut ke Taib sambil nusu utai Taib, tak baka ke amat. Nyata amat kediatu.
Cina Chantung,
you said,”Hey it seems that a lot of Dayaks are happy that they remain poor under BN! Especially John Jamban and friends.”
well, cc i tell you this,” In fact dayaks are not really poor. they seem to be poor because THEY PRETEND TO BE POOR.”
yes to camouflage! i know them well, since i m working with “opis welfare”. well, the dayaks are a very good pretenders. if i m a film director, i will employ them as an actors who pretend to be poor, where as in fact they are just doing ok.”
they too are quite happy with the present BN which provided them every now and then with atap zink, baja padi, pemancit serta racun rumput, anak manok, paip pvc, agu/jamban luncur, simen, alang rumah and not to forget MRP, which DB called it, as instant noodle.
As long as the BN is riding in the Dayaks (Donkey’s) back, all the promised development (dangling carrot)will forever evade the donkey’s mouth. The BN will dangle bigger carrots during election time. THAT IS THE DIRTY DELAY TACTIC OF THE BN GOMEN.
Tabi Bloggers,
Agreed with KOW’s observation…..Dayaks being humble people will not tell the whole world they are okay & not as poor as percieved by DB.
What DB like CC, CI, continue doing is instigate
dayaks voters to go against the Establishment….Paramount Chief rigthly called them “Specialist Instigators”.
Kerani Opis Welfare on January 9th, 2010 10:53 pm
Cina Chantung,
well, cc i tell you this,” In fact dayaks are not really poor. they seem to be poor because THEY PRETEND TO BE POOR.”
…………………………………………..
Well, KOW,
Excellent KOW,
You know and we also know that you are working for WELFARE DEPARTMENT. Where else can you get a better figure to see whether or not Ibans are indeed poor.
Perhaps, just have a quick glance at your files or documents, you are sure to see Iban names make up a high percentage of recipients.
You must either be joking or you do not know what you are doing.
Does it mean that the Ibans pretend to be poor?. Come on KOW!.
Iban students are always at the bottom of the bottom classes. I know it . I have seen it. I deal with it. Record shows it. And probably,some of your relatives are rather poor as students.
Do Ibans have any savings and/or investment?. Only a small percentage do have some. KOW, you better ask them.
If Ibans are not poor, then how many of your colleagues in your office/department are of Iban or Dayak origin? Well, there are not many Iban teachers even in Iban majority region.
So, what does it mean?. It only means, Ibans are relatively poor in these two areas: Finance and Education.
And this is for a fact. Please do not deny it.
Cheers…
so funny Batulawi,
honestly i just loved it, when you said, “As long as the BN is riding in the Dayaks (Donkey’s) back, all the promised development (dangling carrot)will forever evade the donkey’s mouth.
too funny to imagine! dangling carrot, what a nice and a perfect words to describe the present situation. new words to me infact, Dangling carrot, he,he,he,he,. keep it up with your meaningful proverd, Batulawi.
CI,
thank you for comments. and it does bare some truths.
The dangling carrot approach is very well effective till this century, right here in Sarawak cos Dayaks are relatively poor.Kerani ofis Welfare should produce the statistics right here in DB on the numbers of welfare receipient under his care. Please identify them under race and percentage of receipient versus race so that we know whether Dayaks are relativly poor or not poor at all.Being a proud KOW, barring the statistics above should enlighten Dayaks as to why we should keep waiting for the govt as they keep the carrot dangling!Sampai parai tau meh!
jOHN jAMBAN
NI NAKA PENYAUH JALAI UDAH DI GAGA ORANG NGAGAI SEMUA RUMAI KE ARI ULU BATANG AI? sEKULA KAMI DI JANJI 10 RIBU ARI nYALAU LALU 3 RIBU. bBN MENANG 90% BA SEKULA KAMI TANG LALU ENDA DI BERI DUIT NYA . NUAN SIKO ARI BANSA IBAN KE NYUKUNG UTAI BULA LABAN NUAN IDUP NGELAKAR BULA BAKA BN. ANANG NGACHAU KAMI BA DAYAK BARU TU NUAN.
KAMI ABIS TANAH LABAN HIDRO. TANG NI ENGGI KAMI DEH? SEMENANJUNG EMPU NYA LABAN DUIT NYA EMPU TAIB. TI BN ENDANG AMAT MANAH, RAKYAT SARAWAK DI DAHULUKAN, LEBIH BERI KA ORANG. NAMA KAMI IBAN TU ENGGI MAYAR KARAN PIA? MELAYU KE UNTUNG ARI TANAH KITAI.
BILL API ARI BARUH RM20 3NDA IBUH DI BAYAR LABAN DITANGGUNG KERAJAAN KO JAKO. NEMU NUAN? MELAYU KE MAIOH UNTUNG LABAN SIDA BISI API BISI METER MAGANG TANG KAMI RUMAH PANJAI AGI TEGAYAM NGENA KELITA. TI KITA BN AMAT KA NGADU RAKYAT, JAUH SERTA BESAI MEH UNGKUS API KA SEMENANJUNG TANG NAMA KEBUAH ENDA ULIH NGAGA KA BANSA IBAN DEH?
KITA BN NGENA CHARA DASAR PECHAH DAN PERINTAH. IBAN, DAYAK PECHAH MAIOH PARTI, BISI PAERTI ASOH BELAYA. PBDS PECHAH, LABAN MASING CHUMA CHIEF PUBLICITY LALU KA NYADI PRESIDENT NGACHAU ORANG KE SENIOR AGI. UJONG LALU DI KUBUR PBDS. SARITU PBDS DIKUBUR PAGILA ADA PRS DALAM BN. TANG NAMA MDC ENDA DIKEMENDAR DEH?
TERANG BETUL KITA TU NYABUNG KAMI IBAN DAYAK BEPECHAH AWAK KA KITA NYAMAI MAKAI KEDIRI EMPU
PPPPPPPPPPP
To bring change to Sarawak, the people of Sarawak must realised that BN had siphoned all the riches and is now left only the crumbs for the people. BN is arrogant and will remove anyone opposing them including Dayak/Iban leaders.
Pakatan Rakyat government can bring change when the people of Sarawak voted them to become the state government. They will have the state resosurces to develop all the interior areas of Sarawak.
If the people of Sarawak do not vote PR into the state government how do you expect PR to bring change as promised ?
Aku nyukung uchu lemambang! john jamban, jamban ni alai d diau, d ukai menua btg ai, nemu d utai nyadi din, ndai d nemu(laban d jamban) hahahhha, kasih meh d jamban, alai prg muai s**t. if sarawak has their own parties, surely i’ll have airport in sri aman, xbuh ka airport, panggung wayang nadai!!! tui! and yet people still prefer RM 30000 for 5 year=rm6000 per year=rm500 sebulan…. gaji org indon mayuh gk ari tu!! Dayak kelalu takut berubah penemu, takut getah nurun, nyamai gk SALCRA nanam, ari nanam sawit kediri empu, Ni pengering iban, kati nda ibanimmigrant ringat… (puji ngagai cda ti rajin gawa)