Will Mahathir be proven right that Taib could be another Wan Mohtar losing power in Sarawak because he refuses to step down after 30 years as Chief Minister?

Can former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad be proven right when he cryptically advised Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to “learn from history” in deciding when to step down, citing the case of “one MB who insisted he should continue, and lost the whole state”?
Mahathir was of course referring to the case of Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Ahmad who was Mentri Besar of Terengganu for 25 years from 1974 to 1999 and was ignominiously evicted from office when Barisan Nasional suffered an electoral rout of 4 – 28 state assembly seats to PAS in the 1999 general elections.
Has Taib overstayed as Sarawak Chief Minister marking his 30th anniversary in office this year?
There can be no doubt that the question of getting Taib to step down as Chief Minister is the single most potent weapon and burning issue against the Barisan Nasional in the 10th Sarawak state general elections, uniting Sarawakians regardless of race or religion throughout the state not because of Taib’s age, the length of his tenure as Chief Minister but because of the lack of accountability, transparency and good governance under Taib’s Chief Ministership illustrated by the mountain of allegations on abuses of power and rampant corruption under his rule which he has not been able to rebut.
It is not that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is not aware of Sarawak Barisan Nasional’s Achilees heel but even he is impotent as far as getting Taib to step down as Chief Minister.
All Najib’s attempts to tie Taib down to an early date to step down had been fobbed off and foiled by the Chief Minister and there is nothing the Prime Minister could do about it.
For instance, when Najib “closed down” Putrajaya for six days and led his entire Cabinet to Sarawak to campaign in the Sarawak state general elections on Sunday, his first message was to assure Sarawakians that a change in the state leadership was imminent.
But Taib refused to “play ball” and made it very clear in Najib’s presence the next day that he was not planning any “imminent” stepping down as Chief Minister, as his time frame is “in a few years’ time”.
“A few years’ time” is not one or two years but at least three years and could even be four or five years!
On Tuesday, Taib even said that he had identified his successor as Sarawak Chief Minister and that he had been grooming his successor for 20 years!
This must rank as the greatest political mystery of the century as no one knows that Taib had been grooming his successor for 20 years – not even Taib or the candidate himself!
Yesterday, Taib vacillated talking at first about “two, three years” and later “two years” as the timeframe of his stepping down after Saturday’s state general elections.
Clearly, it is still very elastic to Taib as to the timeframe of his stepping down as Sarawak Chief Minister and depending on the outcome of Saturday’s polls, it could still range from two, three to four and even five years!
Of course, there is no question of Taib’s remaining as Chief Minister if Mahathir’s warning come true on Saturday and Barisan Nasional loses power with Pakatan Rakyat winning over half of the 71 State Assembly seats.
There are those who believe that Barisan Nasional will be voted out of power in April 16 general elections.
I am more inclined to the second scenario of denying the Barisan Nasional two-thirds State Assembly majority – although the first scenario of Barisan Nasional losing power in Sarawak through the ballot box is no more an unthinkable and impossible objective.
To deny the Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in the Sarawak State Assembly, Pakatan Rakyat must win at least 24 out of the total of 71 State Assembly seats in Sarawak.
From the ferment and effervescence in Sarawak, the air of freedom of liberation evident among the people during the campaign, it is clear that something is in the works on Saturday affecting the political future of Sarawak and Malaysia.
The goal of denying the Barisan Nasional two-thirds State Assembly majority is eminently achievable which would in fact be the worst defeat in the history of Barisan Nasional.
There is no way Taib could continue as Chief Minister if he loses two-thirds state assembly majority on Saturday as this would impact most adversely on Najib’s political future and in particular for the long-delayed 13th national elections.
Although the electoral prospects for the 15 seats contested by the DAP are ever optimistic and positive by the day, I want to warn and caution all the 15 DAP candidates and election workers that we cannot be assured of victory in anyone of the seats until the votes are counted on Saturday evening and the results announced.
In the one-and-a-half days to polling, Barisan Nasional will go all out to “steal” the 10th Sarawak state general elections with their department of “dirty tricks” working 24/7.
In Kuching, SUPP leaders have declared that they are confident of winning in all the four state seats contested by DAP – Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa and Batu Kawah.
We must not take SUPP and Barisan Nasional boasts lightly and I call on all the four DAP candidates in Kuching as well as all the 15 DAP candidates in Sarawak and all voters, supporters and well-wishers to adopt a common approach – that no victory in any constituency is assured until the votes are counted and victory declared, and till then, an all-out effort must be launched to get out every single available vote on Saturday to usher in political change in Sarawak and Malaysia.


Source: http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2011/04/14/will-mahathir-be-proven-right-that-taib-could-be-another-wan-mohtar-losing-power-in-sarawak-because-he-refuses-to-step-down-after-30-years-as-chief-minister/#more-11510

Voter claims BN campaigners gave him money

Posted on April 15, 2011 by malaysiakinicom

S’WAK POLLS Four people he believes are BN workers call at his house with a slip on his voting details, a BN poster and two RM10 notes.

A voter has claimed that he received RM20 from BN campaigners who visited his house at Kampung Baru Sri Aman in the Lingga state constituency this afternoon.
The male Malay voter, who asked not to be named, showed Malaysiakini the money stapled to a slip of paper that showed his voting details.
He claimed that four Malays – two males and two females believed to be BN campaigners – were doing house-to-house visits in the village around 4pm today.
At his house, they called on the family members to vote for BN and then handed over slip with his voter registration details, stapled with two RM10 notes, a small piece of white paper printed with the BN symbol and a cross beside it, together with an A4-sized poster of the BN symbol, printed in colour.
His voting details included his name, IC number, polling district, polling station, polling stream, polling date and time.
Although the slip had no BN symbol, the print at the bottom stated that the publisher is the BN headquarters located on Jalan Bako, Kuching, and the printer, a company named Lee Miing Press Sdn Bhd, also located in Kuching.
The A4 poster, also published by the state BN headquarters, states the printer as Heng Sing Brothers Press, which is also Kuching-based.
“I’m considering lodging a police report. Vote-buying is a very serious offence during an election,” he told Malaysiakini.
Kampung Baru Sri Aman is located within the Lingga constituency, which is one of the 19 “black” seats identified by BN.
It is seeing a three-way fight among incumbent Simoi Peri (BN-PBB), Abang Ahmad Arabi Abang Bolhassan (PKR) and Abang Othman Abang Gom (SNAP).
Simoi, who had earlier announced that she would step down but was still fielded by BN, is said to be an “unpopular candidate”.
Malaysiakini has not been able to get her response on the alleged vote-buying.
The opposition parties have been claiming that this state election has been marred by rampant vote-buying, but Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday vehemently denied this.

SOURCE: http://malaysiakinicom.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/voter-claims-bn-campaigners-gave-him-money/#more-1317

Lim Guan Eng's Sharp Political Speech in Miri on 8 April 2011 (Part2)

Part 2 of Lim Guan eng's sharp and witty speech below.

Ngap Sayot SARAWAK! 





Part 1 of his speech can be watched here: Part 1 of Lim Guan Eng's Speech in Miri

Taib submits form to defend Balingian seat

MUKAH, April 6 (Bernama) -- Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud this morning handed his nomination form to defend his seat for the Balingian state constituency in the Sarawak election 2011 at the Dewan Suarah Mesra, here.

Taib, 74, arrived at the nomination centre at 9.15am accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman as well as 5,000 Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters.

Also present was Taib's wife, Puan Sri Ragad Waleed Taib.

Taib, who is also the Sarawak BN chairman, earlier had walked in a procession for about two kilometres with party supporters carrying the BN flags from Masjid Setia Raja to the nomination centre before handing in his nomination form to the Returning Officer Mohamad Nawawi, who is also the Mukah District Officer.

Earlier, former deputy education minister Datuk Salleh Jafaruddin, 65, handed in his nomination paper as soon as the nomination centre was opened at 9am.

Salleh, was accompanied by his wife, Datin Sharifah Hajijah Syed Jamil and another former deputy education minister Datuk Bujang Ulis, and two supporters.

Asked by reporters later, Salleh merely said that he was contesting as an Independent using the key symbol to represent a non-governmental organisation named, Movement of Change Sarawak

The hour-long nominations for the April 16 election closed at 10 am.

In Hulu Rajang, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Datuk Seri Dr James Masing arrived at the Dewan Suarah Kapit half an hour earlier and filed his nomination papers for the defence of his Baleh stronghold at 9am.

His PKR rival, Bedindang ak Manjah followed suit 15 minutes later. Over in Miri, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) president Tan Sri Dr George Chan, who is defending the Piasau seat, arrived at 9.20am at the Dewan Suarah Miri to register his bid.

DAP newcomer Ling Sie Kong had arrived earlier as soon as nominations opened at 9am to file his nomination papers to contest against Dr Chan.

At the Miri Indoor Stadium, Datuk Lee Kim Shin from the SUPP and PKR candidate Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng arrived at 9am to file in their nomination papers for the Senadin seat.

In 2006, Lee had won with a majority of 4,799 votes to beat PKR candidate Chai Chook Fui.

In SIBU, Bukit Assek incumbent and DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng, was the first to arrive with more than a hundred supporters at the Sibu Municipal Council Library building to file his nomination.

His opponent, Chieng Buong Tong of SUPP, who is out to wrest back the seat for BN, was accompanied by 200 supporters. In KUCHING, Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi (BN-PBB) was accompanied by his wife, Siti Shorgayah Zaidin, and the Member of Parliament for Santubong, Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, to the nomination centre for the Pantai Damai state constituency.

PKR candidate Wan Zainal Abdin Wan Senusi was accompanied by party president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail to file in his nomination papers.

The contest for Pantai Damai also drew an Independent candidate, Suhaimi Selamat, who arrived at 9.25am.

In KUCHING, BN faces a three-way tussle for the Padungan and Bukit Lintang Chinese-dominated constituencies and is headed for a straight fight for Pending. BN-SUPP new face Sim Kiang Chiok, DAP newcomer Wong King Wei and former PKR assemblyman Dominique Ng filed their nominations for Padungan.

Ng, a lawyer, is standing as an independent. He won the same seat for PKR in 2006 but was dropped by the party this time after Padungan was swapped for Bukit Lintang with DAP.

For Bukit Lintang, the three who submitted their candidacies are Sih Hua Tong (BN-SUPP), See Chee How (DAP) and an independent, Soo Lina. BN new face and cardiologist Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian of SUPP, and DAP's Violet Yong were the only two who submitted their papers for the Pending seat.

In Petra Jaya, BN-PBB incumbent Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali and PKR's Zulrusdi Mohamad Hol handed their nomination papers for the Samariang seat at Dewan Perdana SMK Semerah Padi.

In JULAU, Sarawak BN component leader, Datuk Seri William Mawan who is president of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, filed his nomination to defend the Pakan constituency.

Sarawak National Party (SNAP) candidate Jamal Abdullah @ Tedong ak Gunda was the only other candidate to submit his papers to contest the same seat.

MySinchew 2011.04.06

Source: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/55689