Sarawak Election 2011 Tsunami

Sarawak election not a barometer for general election: academician 2011-04-01 15:20 PETALING JAYA, April 1 (Bernama) -- The results of the upcoming Sarawak state election will not be barometer for the country's 13th general election, according to Prof Dr Jayum anak Jawan of Universiti Putra Malaysia's Department of Government and Civilisation Studies. The deputy dean ((Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology) said this was due to differences in political and geographical aspects between the peninsula and Sarawak. "Sarawak is totally different and unique because the seats are plural... people need to work together in order to lead the state," he said at a forum on the 2011 Sarawak state election held here last night. He said this time around, there were 29 hot seats (out of total of 71 seats) with 15 of them majority Chinese, Iban (seven), Malay/Melanau (three), Bidayuh (two) and Orang Ulu (two). "Whereas in the peninsula, there are 165 parliamentary seats with 130 them dominated by Malays where they don't exactly need votes from other communities,"he said. Nevertheless, he said more Sarawakians were asking for better development now.MySinchew 2011.04.01