Apr 13, 2011

Winds of change in Sarawak?

Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib bin Mahmud, Chief Mi...Image via Wikipedia
Taib

April 13th, 2011 by Greg Lopez · 1 Comment

While the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition has dominated politics in Sarawak over the last four decades, significant changes have been taking place in the state that could weaken BN’s control. A key development in recent years is the ascendancy of nationally based parties such as the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) within the opposition forces in Sarawak. Another significant change is the swing in Chinese support from the ruling party to the opposition. These developments together with the emergence of a Dayak intelligentsia sharply critical of the ruling elite will enable opposition forces to provide a credible challenge to the BN in the forthcoming Sarawak state assembly elections. This paper details how opposition forces will fare in the elections. It also discusses the issue of succession to Taib, who has been Chief Minister for thirty years, and outlines key developments in the ruling state coalition since the 1960s that led to the rise of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra (PBB) as the dominant party in the BN coalition.
- Extracted from Faisal S. Hazis, “Winds of change in Sarawak politics?”,   S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 24 March 2011.
Tags: Malaysia · Sabah and Sarawak · Social movements · Social unrest

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Moses // Apr 13, 2011 at 4:32 pm
    Noting that Dr Faisal’s article was written in March, before the close of nominations, a key point that needs to be mentioned is the number of three-cornered fights there will be between BN, SNAP and PKR. PKR and SNAP’s inability to come to a satisfactory seat allocation arrangement and subsequent public bickering will hurt the opposition both by splitting the opposition vote (in close to 30 seats), and by giving the impression of a fractured opposition unready to assume government. That means little in the Chinese seats of course, where one would expect the DAP to have some success if the Sibu by-election is any guide. But that won’t be enough to win the opposition any more than about half a dozen seats more than it already holds.
    Winds of change? Only to the extent of the succession to Taib’s leadership…
    Quality comment or not? Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
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