KUCHING: Sarawak Barisan Nasional component leaders, minister and MPs are increasingly nervous about the Dayak backlash from a covertly recorded video by international pressure group Global Witness.
The opposition has since reproduced the 16-minute video in Iban with Bahasa Malaysia subtitles. Thousands of these DVDs and VCDs are expected to find its way into the Iban heartland.
In the video Global Witness posed as investors and video recorded their meeting with land owners – Fatimah and Norliah Abdul Rahman Yakub – and two lawyers whose ‘candour and explicit’ explanations on the business practices in Sarawak and how to dodge taxes had left viewers stumped.
Fatimah and Norliah, who are Taib cousins, were recorded as having said that it was easy for their company to get state and native customary lands from the government and sell them for huge profits. The sisters had also described the Dayak community as ‘squatters” and having “low intelligence” and as such were “easily manipulated”.
In the upcoming general election this video and its Iban version will be the opposition’s singular biggest weapon to convince the rural community to turn their backs on Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Barisan Nasional.
If the 2011 state polls are any measure, then the opposition Pakatan Rakyat are on an upward swing and the video will be the much needed gust to see them pocket up to eight parliamentary seats.
Party insiders however are confident that the numbers could reach 12.
But Taib is least concerned. Afterall didn’t he sweep aside Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s scorn for him and deliver all 35 seats held by Pesaka Bumiptera Bersatu in the 2011 state polls?
He is confident that his PBB will do it again and retain the 14 Malay-Melanau majority parliamentary seats allocated.
History is on his side.
Fed-up Taib
PBB has never lost a single parliamentary seat since 1991. Even the leadership fallout between him and his uncle Abdul Rahman Yakub in 1987 did not affect the party or for that matter Barisan Nasional’s sway in Sarawak.
The 13th parliamentary elections will be no different.
PBB will keep its 14 seats and when push comes to shove will be in a pole position to negotiate deals with or without his BN partners.
But it won’t be the same for the rest.
Unlike in previous polls, there’s a feeling in the power isles here that it will be a case of each-party-for-himself.
A fed-up Taib is no longer interested in the federal brokers who are engaging his ‘team mates’ directly and stirring the hornet.
He knows every one is double-dealing and that includes his own PBB people and the Global Witness video is only the beginning in the final push to the polls.
BN has as its Sarawak partners PBB, Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS)and Sarawak Democratic Progressive Party (SPDP).
Aside from PBB, SUPP has seven seats, PRS have six and SPDP four.
And the video has already stirred SUPP, PRS and SPDP representations on the ground.
DAP’s weapon
Thus far none of the party leaders have outwardly reacted to the video although several Dayak NGOs including the ‘powerful’ Sarawak Dayak National Union, Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association and the Dayak Chambers of Commerce have raged against the defamatory content.
“Perhaps they agree with the remarks that the Dayaks are poor, low intelligence and can be bought over easily with RM30 or RM40,” said an opposition leader who did not wish to be named.
The BN leadership’s silence has only fueled rumblings on the ground among political party members and supporters are also getting louder.
SUPP is the most worried and are nervously silent despite being challenged by DAP to make their stand clear on the issue of corruption, abuse of power and cronyism as contained in the video clip.
In the last state election, it was these Taib-linked issues that DAP exploited to win 13 out of the 19 seats allocated to SUPP.
The biggest casualty was surely SUPP president George Chan, a six term assemblyman. He lost his Piasau seat to a rookie.
Now with the video clip as one of its election arsenals, DAP is fully ready to go to ‘war’ with SUPP in the Chinese majority constituencies of Stampin, Bandar Kuching, Sarikei, Lanang, Sibu and Miri.
State DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen said DAP is very confident that the voters will back the party in these constituencies.
In Julau, the people have come out in fury to protest against the secret disposal of their 5,000 hectares of their NCR land to Taib’s family members as detailed in the video.
Real danger
PKR leader in the area, Andy Wong has also made reports to police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
More protests and police reports will be made in the next few days.
As the heat rises over the revelations, the future looks precarious for incumbents in hot-seats.
Said Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau: “The poses a real danger and could have a devastating impact on BN.
“We in Barisan cannot ignore the issue and hope it will go away. We cannot assume that it will not have any impact on the elections.
“The DVDs and VCDs are small and they are easily smuggled into the interior and distributed widely.
“We need to counter to prevent the issue from harming the BN’s chances of winning in the general election.”
