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now registered voters in Sarawak have cast their ballots to choose the
next group of the state’s legislators while some 400,000 plus other fair
dinkum locals of voting age (21 years above) did not. Why? Because they
are not registered voters. They couldn’t have done so under the present
system of voting.
Hopefully, the disenfranchised people will
start registering as voters to enable them to vote at the next
parliamentary election. Otherwise, they will again miss the chance to
participate in a democratic exercise which is more representative of the
voting strength and truly reflective of the will of the adult suffrage
in Sarawak.
Unless and until, in the meantime, there will be
introduced in Parliament legislation to make voting compulsory, those
Sarawakians and those in the other states remain voiceless through the
ballot box.
As at the 10th of last month, there were under 1.14
million voters on the rolls in the state. From this, 25,022 voters are
from the armed forces and the police; of these some, but not all, are
Sarawakians and their spouses.
In the polls just concluded, 418 of
these voters registered in Bukit Kota and Bukit Sari constituencies
were happy that they did not have to go down to the polling stations.
The candidates in these two constituencies were returned unopposed.
Every
day, each Sarawakian who celebrates his or her 21st birthday is a
potential voter, but any who choose not to register as voters will add
to the growing number of citizens who are being disenfranchised by
design. Not even design, inertia as a rule, ‘can’t be bothered to
register’. If you could register by tapping a handphone they probably
would … The system needs reform but the people in positions of power
have not really addressed this institutionalised discrimination. Prove
me wrong.
To the winners, felicitations; to the losers, try again
The
results of yesterday’s polls speak for themselves. As nowadays
everybody is a political analyst, I shall leave the post-mortems of the
results to the experts, including those working for Pemandu. They will
look at all the factors that might have contributed to winning or losing
before they can conclude whether or not the election was free and fair,
and whether money politics played an important part in winning or
losing, ban on entry to Sarawak of opposition lawmakers from Peninsular
Malaysia, the Adenan factor, perimeter survey initiative, impact of GST,
of BR1M, of 1MDB’s woes. Let’s see if any issue or a combination of
issues have had any bearing or contribution in the outcome of the
election.
In defeat, defiant; in victory, magnanimous. Just
this one comment from me: politics, like sport where competition is the
main drive and victory is the ultimate prize, is a kind of game. There
are winners and losers in any contest – the winners experiencing the
ecstasy of victory and the losers, the agony of defeat. But like in
golfing or boxing, there is always another round on another day. To the
losers, I’d say, there is no such thing as the end of the world. Winston
Churchill once said, “In defeat defiant.” Treat every defeat as a
battle lost to be fought another time.
I wish to congratulate
those who have won the elections in their respective constituencies and
also those who have been picked as members of the new state cabinet. In
victory, you should “be magnanimous” as Churchill also said.
Like
many other Sarawakians, I’m looking forward to seeing fulfilment of the
election pledges, especially from those who are walking in the corridors
of power.
For instance, construction of a bridge across the
mile-wide Batang Lupar, or the Long Lama bridge: it will be a long
bridge and it will take lama to build! Our Lundu-Biawak road took 50
years to complete!
Rule of law
All governments are faced
with problems, some of which are difficult to solve, others not so
serious. In the course of the next few years or so, the government may
encounter all sorts of problems. But it is precisely the job of the
government of the day to handle them with wisdom. They can do so if all
the key institutions of government are running smoothly – the lawmakers
to introduce sensible legislation, the judges to interpret and apply
them, the law enforcers to carry out decisions without fear or favour.
More importantly, the people must be law abiding.
One fundamental
ingredient of good governance boils down to strict observance of the
rule of law. A good government is one that is fair and equitable and
observes the very law it makes. A government that does not observe that
rule will be faced with all sorts of problems, hampering good
governance.
All legislators – those who form the government and
those from the opposition – are expected to deliver the goods not only
by serving the interests and needs of their respective constituents but
also of those other Sarawakians. Do not discriminate against those who
did not vote for you. If you treat them well, they may vote for you come
the next election. Have you thought of that?
We have seen how the
old legislators performed in the assembly in the past and we expect the
new ones to do well, if not better. It is said a new broom sweeps well.
All
YBs are expected to do justice to the time they will be there; the
opposing YBs should not oppose the policies and legislation introduced
by the government for the sake of opposing. They should behave like
members of an alternative government; in fact they are, in a
parliamentary model of government which we have copied from Westminster.
Before the next election
Because
of the large number of people in Sarawak without the chance to vote, I
wish to urge those Sarawakians who are eligible for registration as
voters to get themselves registered as voters as soon as possible and as
many as of them as possible before the next parliamentary election.
In
Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah there will be simultaneous elections –
state and federal; Sarawak will only hold the federal election.
As
I see it, the 14th general election is crucial for Malaysia in the
sense that we in Sarawak have no choice but to stay put in Malaysia. Out
of Malaysia is not an option; it may be a case of out of the frying pan
into the fire.
Supposing we choose to stay put, what can we do to
improve things? Send the best MPs to KL and if there is a new
government in Putrajaya, pray that quality leaders will be included in
the federal cabinet and in other positions of power and authority.
So
much power is now in the hands of the federal government dominated by a
certain party. For instance, the power over education and scholarships,
local government elections, over the cabotage policy, to name a few
issues. For a longer list of the state’s legislative powers – including
those of concurrent powers – see the Inter-Governmental Committee
Report, 1962.
These are the main subjects around which some
serious issues have not been successfully solved since 1963. Potential
MPs from Sarawak may like to have a look at them before offering
themselves as candidates in the coming parliamentary election.
Comments can reach the writer via columnists@theborneopost.com.
