Kuching
Saturday, 22nd May 2010
Introduction
Promise the moon is an American idiom , which means promise that isn’t likely to be fulfilled. To majority of Malaysian, promise the moon or “janji kosong” or translated as an empty promise , is synonym with Barisan Nasional (BN) campaign tactic especially during the by-election.
"Promise the Moon" is a part of BN most deadly weapon to fight against the opposition in Malaysia especially during the by-election. They will make promises to the voters that if they win the by-election they will given the development worth millions of ringgit . And most of it, if not all were not fulfilled.
This tactic had been very affective in the Malay majority areas in the Peninsular Malaysia, and the Dayak/Iban majority areas in Sarawak. This can be seen during the Hulu Selangor by-election in the Peninsular Malaysia, and in Sibu-Sarawak by-election which had just concluded recently.
In Sarawak for example , in the nine (9) Iban majority areas in Bawang Assan, “promise the moon” tactics by BN had been very successfully in fishing for Ibans' vote.
In my posting today, I am going to concentrate on the effectiveness of the "promise to the moon" tactic by BN in the Iban majority areas during P212-Sibu by-election which was held last week, and also the Lubok Antu by-election held in April 2009.
Dayak Easily Cheated By BN’s “Promises the Moon”
How true is the above statement. Let's examine the result of the two by-elections held in Sarawak since the GE 12. First is the by-lection in Lubok Antu, second followed by the Sibu by-election, and thrdly the promises made by BN during their all year around campaign to the longhouses in their efforts to mentaining the supports of the Iban.
1) Lubok Antu By-Election (6th April 2010)
Before the by-election, most of the political observers predicted that the chances for BN and PKR to win the by-election were at 50%-50%. But after promised with RM 80 millions worth of project they turned their supports to BN. This is the real mentality of our people in which we must and ought to find ways how to overcome them. In the by-election, because of chawat mentality of the Iban voters in LA, BN had not only won the by-election but their majority was increased to 1,854 votes compared to the 860 votes that they won through late YB Dublin Unting.
2) Sibu by-election (22nd May 2010)
The just concluded Sibu by-election had also prooven that the Iban are easily cheated or manipulated by BN. In Bawang Asan, for example, despite the intensified campaign made by the top Ibans' leadership in PR, but there were no significant increase in the number of votes secured by DAP/PR Candidate.
Of the ten (10) polling centres, only three polling centres had the support of Iban voters to PR/DAP increased whereas seven centres indicated that Iban votes to PR were declining.
According to the information recieved from the ground, the PR campaign teams to the long houses at the beginning were well recieved, but why was PR lost in the longhouses? Accordingb to the unconfirmed source, during the campaigns, BN had distributed an "ang pow" worth RM 600 per voters plus the distribution of the MRP projects to all the longhouses.
But the Chinese in Sibu who were also promised with worth millions of projects but majority of them still voted for DAP in the election?.
Why can't the Iban just followed what our Chinese friends in Sibu town did, by taking their RM 600 "ang pow" but vote for PR. But the Iban in Bawang Assan had sold their dignities by throwing their votes to BN.
3) Another Empty Promises By BN to Longhouse Folks
The longhouse where I came from is situated in N25-balai Ringin and P202. During their recent visit to the longhouse, YB Snowdan Lawan and YB Masir Kujat, had pledged the MRP grants to the longhouse totalling more than RM 75K, but until now nothing have been awarded to the longhouse.
Not only these two liar YBs, in 2008, Jabu the beloved CM blue eyes boy had also promised to provide gravel for Kpg Empaling, Isu and Gayau road worth more than RM 200K, but until now not even any single stone had been given by him. One of the JKKK committee members even suggested to start a "Liar Dumping" or Tugong Pemula for Jabu at Simpang Ubah as a punishment for his "promise the moon" ( Note: Tugong Pemula is a kind of punishment awarded to a person who lied . Everyone who past by the dumping or tugong will throw what ever rubbish or wooden stick that one can found and throw them into the tugong while saying " bulak Jabu" ..Jabu for example is a name of a person that tell lie, in thisexample I used Jabu....)
How Important is the Iban Areas to PR
If PR is serious enough to taking over the government from BN in the coming state election in sarawak it must take the above weaknesses of the Iban seriously. Without winning the Iban majority areas, PR intention to wrest Sarawak from BN will be remained as a dream.
In order to win the Iban majority areas, another point to consider by PR is in the selection of candidate. The candidate of whose loyalty to the the party is questionable must not be choosen as a candidate. For example, one of the ex-YB who was not selected by his party to defend his sit in GE12 had recently joined the party, in order to be selected as a candidate. After series of defection by party members in Peninsular, PKR must be matured enough in selecting it best candidates for the election
Conclusion
In order to take over Sarawak government from the Barisan Nasional, PR must first be able to win the Iban majority areas. In order to win the votes of the Iban, following problems that can influent their supports must be addressed ; easily manipulated and recieved bribe by BN , and to avoid selecting candidate whose loyalty to the party and party leaders are questionable, i.e ex-BN YB that joined the party after he was kicked out by the BN, in order to be selected as a candidate.
Mupok Aku
AGI IDUP AGI NGELABAN
