BN Government has failed Sarawakians

A Pakatan govt will fail, says Masing
By Raynore Mering, The Borneo Post 14.8.2008

BN govt has already failed Sarawakians, says Sarawak Headhunter.

KUCHING: The government that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is planning to set up - should he succeed in convincing some Barisan Nasional (BN) elected representatives to join him - could be doomed for failure.

JAMES MASING

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Dato Sri Dr James Masing said yesterday: “Any government formed by a group of turncoats will never be stable.”

Masing forgets that he himself is a double or triple or perhaps even quadruple turncoat, first when he went against Taib in 1987, then when he rejoined Taib's government, when he caused the de-registration of PBDS, and almost did the same thing to PRS, all in all a traitor to his race and to the people of Sarawak.

All he has ever done is to advance his own personal agenda rather than that of his people or of Sarawakians in general.

Anwar, the de facto leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Pakatan Rakyat, had been claiming for several months that he had the numbers to take over the government in September.

After the March 8 polls, the BN government has 140 members of Parliament as against Pakatan Rakyat’s 82.

For Anwar to take over the government, he would need at least 30 BN MPs to cross-over.

Masing said any coalition members who hopped over to the opposition side of parliament would be committing a “betrayal of trust”. He felt that if Anwar were serious about forming a government he could wait until the next general election.

Of course Masing knows a lot about "betrayal of trust" since he has been doing it for so many years.

“The fact is that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is the duly elected leader of the country. Give him a chance and let him do his work. Until then he should serve his term as the duly elected leader.

The fact is that "duly" elected leaders can become duly unelected as well at any time they no longer act in the interests of the country or the people. Abdullah was elected by UMNO and the BN, but if his own MPs no longer have any faith in him why should he be given any further chance to mess things up even more? If the MPs who elected him cross over to Pakatan, then he will become duly unelected.

There is no law to say that once duly elected he cannot become duly unelected or that he should serve his full term. If the duly elected people's representatives no longer have confidence in him, then by law they can remove him by calling for a vote of no confidence in Parliament, irrespective of what party they belong to. That is the law and it is called the Federal Constitution.

“Anwar is just 61, what is another five years. He can seek the mandate of the people during the next general election. That is the proper thing to do,” said Masing, who is the Sarawak Land Development Minister.

If Anwar has the mandate of the people's representatives that is as good as having the mandate of the people. That is the system and the proper thing to do. Why wait for another 5 years for Abdullah to ruin this nation beyond repair?

On Wednesday night, Sarawak BN chairman Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said Sarawakians felt offended when rumours surfaced of state BN members contemplating hopping to other parties for the sake of positions and other benefits.

Which Sarawakians felt offended? Most Sarawakians would be overjoyed if this was to happen. What is offensive is Taib saying that these MPs would do it for the sake of positions and other benefits. Why can't they do it for the sake of the state and the country, for Sarawakians and Malaysians?

“Sarawak people may have been poor at one time but I can tell you that we cannot be bought and we will not hop blindly when other people ask us to do so.

This implies that Sarawak people are no longer poor. Taib knows very well how much it costs to buy votes, a common practice of the BN. Hopefully Sarawakians are no longer as blind as he still thinks they are.

“I can assure the prime minister that the people of Sarawak will never forget what the BN leadership has done for our state,” he said at a dinner held in connection with the BN Elected Representatives’ Wives Annual Programme here, which was officiated by Abdullah.

Sarawak Headhunter urges all Sarawakians never to forget what the BN leadership has done to our state. It is high time that the BN government was kicked out.

In turn, Abdullah assured that Sarawak would get more value-added development and thanked Sarawak for its continuous support for the ruling coalition.

More value-added development for whom? Why should we trust anything that Abdullah has to say anymore?

“Tan Sri Taib said thank you to us but I must say this: You may thank us for whatever little things that we have done for you but I have to thank Sarawak for not forgetting the BN,” said Abdullah, who is the national BN chairman.

In particular, Abdullah has to thank Sarawakians for letting the Malayans have full control over Sarawak's petroleum resources, without which BN would not have been able to stay in power for so long. Even then BN has already lost 5 states to Pakatan because of abuse of power and misuse of resources.

Reacting to Abdullah’s comment, Masing said he was touched that the premier had acknowledged Sarawak’s support for the BN.

Let's hope he will still be touched when Sarawakians support the opposition instead.

“I hope the federal government will also reciprocate by giving us development projects that the state is in need of,” he said.

The question is why is the state which is rich in natural resources still in need of development projects and why do we have to beg the federal government for projects?