There was no minister involved, which surprised the handful of business journalists covering the event. Given that these are the final few days before the hotlycontested Sarawak election, you'd think the office would have been swarmed by BN politicians.
In fact, you'd imagine that this MoU would have been signed in Kuching, Miri or Sibu where the contests are red hot between BN and the pretenders.
Instead, the signing ceremony was confined to just the signatories representing two companies and Unimas, which had just completed a pilot project to replace diesel-powered generators with made-in-Malaysia green batteries.
As I write this, and as far I know, the implications of this good news have yet to reach Sarawak.
For me, it speaks of one thing: the focus of campaigning in the Sarawak election has been hijacked and is being dictated by other priorities.
From the day Chief Minister Taib Mahmud announced the dissolution of the State Assembly to pave the way for this Saturday's polls, the main issue has revolved around his 30-year tenure as Sarawak's chief executive.
The Opposition's sole aim is to blame every pothole on the road on Taib.
His "ill-gotten" wealth became the focus of Radio Free Sarawak, which is openly backed by the Pakatan Rakyat, since last year.
Despite the State's compliance with international standards, the chief minister was accused of destroying forests and minting money for himself and his family from excessive logging and land grab.
None of these allegations have ever been substantiated but that's besides the point; Taib's enemies were out to discredit him, and were not ashamed to equate him with the likes of Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak.
Never mind if Pakatan Rakyat's own leaders — Nik Aziz, Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh and even Anwar Ibrahim — have been around before Taib became chief minister.
Tit-for-tat, the government supporters built up BN's campaign around the goal of tarnishing the image of the enemy.
Pakatan Rakyat's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has become an easy target after a sex video involving him or his look-a-like surfaced last month. If you read Utusan Malaysia this morning, news about Anwar Ibrahim easily fills up two broadsheet pages.
Those days when Anwar was the deputy prime minister, newspapers worshipped him. Now, the newspaper that Anwar once controlled as if it was his own has become his worst enemy.
Also for the first time in decades of our peaceful multi-religious coexistence as a nation, Christians have become a major election tool. A dangerous precedent has been set.
When PAS started cashing in on Islam for political mileage during the 70s, religion quickly became a divisive factor for the Malays.
A bit like a mini Shi'ite vs Sunni, minus the bloodshed, the Malay-Muslims started to pray with two imams in the same mosque.
The political game being played in Sarawak is potentially more dangerous, as the Church is being used by certain quarters not to divide the Christians but to create an affront with the Government and the Muslims.
It is a strategy being employed stealthily by certain quarters.
The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) was used blatantly in the run-up to the 2008 general election to produce tension with the Malay-Muslims.
Now Hindraf is making a comeback for the next polls despite being outlawed after the last general election, where it played a major role in helping BN lose five States.
If the authorities are not careful, we could witness the clash of religions in political rallies for PRU13!
After the polls this weekend, Prime Minister Najib Razak must make it his priority to resolve the issues facing the religions.
He must be fair and he must be tough to ensure that Malaysia remains moderate.
And Sarawak must go back to work immediately. There is more to this State than churches, mosques and temples.
Under the National Key Result Areas, for example, the government is committed to provide 24-hour electricity supply to more than 140,000 households by next year, and most of these are in Sarawak.
There's a lot of light at the end of this tunnel, yet.
AHIRUDIN ATTAN is group editorial advisor for The Malay Mail, Bernama TV and The Malaysian Reserve. He blogs at rockybru.com.my
Source: http://www.mmail.com.my/content/69462-rockys-bru-lighting-sarawak-after-elections
No comments:
Post a Comment