The White Croc of Bullshit

End The "White Croc’s" Dominance in Sarawak Politics

Posted by Dr. John Brian Anthony

The White Croc has helmed Sarawak politics for 26 years - that is equivalent to one generation of the Sarawak population who have come to know him as their only Chief Minister.

Staying that long in “power” over Sarawak has now produce a more NEGATIVE result rather than POSITIVE. The politics of development has brought Sarawak progress but at a price. Some of that development is not in line with our culture in Sarawak. It has also brought much riches to family members, selected individuals and affected almost the whole system of the political value system in Sarawak.

Political Value System of Sarawak under the White Croc

Decision Making

Nobody makes any decision - even Cabinet members - without referring to Taib for his tacit approval. In such a manner, cabinet members are rubber stamps and slowly they lose their brains. They have lost their thinking ability. Actually the decision making process was designed to revolve around one man.

What do you think will happen? Complacency, abuses and many more negative practices will surface that will affect the population in its distribution of wealth. Gain from natural resources will reside only in those he alone favours.

Instilling Fear in Elected Representatives

Our YBs minus those in opposition have become a laughing stock. The YBs cannot play their role in speaking for the voters. During election the candidate promises assistance, changes, introduces new societal initiatives to the people, but after being elected the YBs revert to whatever Taib fancies. Mawan once said “we must know what mountain to climb and not to climb and what river to cross and not to cross”. It is such a pathetic situation to be in.

Even long house heads need the Chief Minister's approval. Such a myopic approach is frightening to the people as they perceive that political backlash and punishment will be meted to them if they go against the White Croc. Actually, this idea is reinforced by BN YBs when they conduct meet the people sessions in order to keep them from questioning their performance.

Giving false meaning to people

The White Croc talks of the concept of progress through his "politics of development". This politics of development means granting and taking away the natural resources of Sarawak and giving them to businesses that are linked to the White Croc or those that need to be rewarded for their personal favours in keeping the people quiet. It even goes so far as giving Sarawak land (albeit through paying money) to West Malaysian UMNO linked companies. Thus ordinary people in Sarawak have no chance to be awarded big timber licenses or plantation land unless they are YBs.

Progress to the rural folk is “MINOR RURAL PROJECTS” and you can imagine how little that allocation is. The rural folk will interpret it as being that they have to be mindful of others who are also asking for development. Therefor they must be very patient to wait for their turn. This is real “bullshit” with regard to the meaning of development.

So becoming a YB in Sarawak is a ticket to riches. Any aspiring politician then gets labeled as “opportunist” by the voters. So why change?

You must work within BN - not outside

The White Croc has succeeded in confusing the people by such an approach. Does it mean that there is no “idea” beyond BN. Does it mean that civil societies cannot play their role to assist in the progress of society? Does it mean that you cannot question BN initiatives and development programmes?

This approach literally puts people into a feeling of being insecure. The local community leaders especially use this approach unknowingly (and some deliberately) to put their people into the defensive or total submission, as the case may be.

Personal gain

Such a long stay in power can only point to businesses starting to affiliate themselves with power and business means money. Much personal monetary gain can be seen in the hands of close family members of the White Croc. The government implementation arm fears the long seated power - remember a generation of power of one man is really intimidating.

State cabinet members also gain much money personally, much more than what they can earn from their salaries, assuming that personal business ownership is disallowed. How do you think they can build houses costing millions of dollars when before they got elected many could not even afford to buy a car or a terrace house.

Challenge

To bring in the rare species of the White Croc is not going to be easy. The White Croc has built so many well positioned personalities into very rich people. They will fight tooth and nail to defend their master. After all, it is wrong by Sarawak values to be ungrateful.

If Party Keadilan Rakyat wants to do more than just talk of toppling the White Croc it had better have some “bomoh” in its team who could chant “magic words” or cast “magic spells” on the White Croc’s colony.

Maybe that is just an option. What is more effective is for the Sarawak voters to reject all BN candidates in Sarawak in the upcoming state election. The money from the White Croc’s colony would be much - to buy votes, to oil people and organizations to support them. But Sarawakians must realize that the longer the White Croc’s colony stays in power the worse it gets. The DAM projects will just keep twisting the knives inside the economically wounded and long-suffering people of Sarawak.

Development must come but it must be sustainable. Sustainability should not be of lip service as it is now in Sarawak - it must actually be sustainable.