Wednesday, December 3, 2008

What Does Tajem Say?

Tuesday, December 2

From The Broken Shield

PKR Congress: Tajem’s presence causes a stir

Dato Sri Daniel Tajem’s presence at Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)’s 5th National Congress at the Malawati Stadium, Shah Alam last Saturday not only caught 200 Sarawakian delegates and observers by surprise, but is also expected to generate some reactions from his political foes or friends.

Upon hearing of his arrival which was announced, many of them rushed to greet him; they did not expect him to be present, so they were extremely happy to see him around. Tajem’s invitation was made through The Broken Shield. Only a handful of people knew that he had accepted Anwar Ibrahim’s invitation.

As a special guest, Tajem was ushered to the VIP frontline seat where he sat together with Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, Yong Teck Lee and Zaid Ibrahim, former UMNO minister in the Prime Minister department, Dr. Goh Cheng Teik, former Gerakan minister, Dr. Aness Munawar, (from USA) and members of Diplomatic Corps.

Tajem used to tell his supporters to be cautious either joining UMNO or PKR. He neither encouraged, nor discouraged them but advised them to wait and see. “We do not know what plans Anwar has for the Dayaks,” he said.

Likened by Anwar Ibrahim as the “star” or described by Yong Teck Lee as the “icon of Dayak politics”, Tajem is still the man to watch in Sarawak’s politics as people still listen to him. Thus his presence at the congress is sure to give all sorts of indications and interpretations to young Dayak professionals and thousands of ex-PBDS members; it can mean giving them the “green” light to join PKR at a time when Dayaks have failed to register a party of their own like Malaysian Dayak Congress.

In view of this failure PKR is therefore considered to be the most “suitable” party for them through which they can articulate their aspirations and address their frustrations and at the same time play national politics. It will not be surprising to see Dayaks joining PKR in droves in the immediate future.

But for Tajem, adviser to protem Malaysian Dayak Congress, accepting the invitation was one way how he could assess or evaluate the seriousness and commitment of PKR’s pledge in trying to dislodge Abdul Taib Mahmud from his 27-year old rule of Sarawak.

Personally, he said, he did not harbour any ambition as age had caught up with him. “But what I want is to see change in Sarawak. I don’t care who is going to be the Chief Minister after Taib, be he Malay, Chinese or Iban, as long as the policy on Native Customary Rights (NCR) land is changed,” he said to The Broken Shield, and added: “The land that has been seized must be returned to the land owners. This is our priority.”

3 comments:

jumpover said...

dayak are still strongly support Datuk Daniel..because of his principles. He always fights for dayak legal belonging .
To D. Daniel ,..the best way for u to fight and fight the "Bubun + cronies" is by shareing your agenda with P.R.

Anonymous said...

D.Daniel, we the dayak are behind u.

Anonymous said...

Sarawak is the Land Of Dayaks a.k.a. Tanah Dayak. Be careful when dealing with outsiders. We have enough cancer because of our own 'brother white'. Hopefully D.Tajem will do the right thing. What happened to PBDS brought shame to us Dayaks. Now outsiders say that we Dayak cannot live without having to fight one another to become Boss. Now PBDS is an opposition not because they fought for injustice, but because two Dayaks disagree on who should be no 1. What a waste of people's time and vote. Redeem. Redeem people's trust by getting rid of Mahalanun the White Bro @ The Bully and James Masing @ The Kena Bully.