In Taib's stronghold, PKR taps into vein of discontent

The opposition gained some sense of the spreading discontent against the powers-that-be from what transpired at a PKR rally in Bandar Baru Mukah on Tuesday evening.

The township is in Balingian, the bailiwick of Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, where he is being challenged by Suriati Abdullah (left) of PKR, and by an estranged cousin, Salleh Jafaruddin, who is running as an independent.

Bandar Baru Mukah is smack in Melanau country. If any strand of Sarawak's dizzying ethnic mosaic ought to be happy with the state's administration, dominated in the last 40 years by members of this minority, it is the Melanau.

The size of the crowd - something like 600 people - a number said to be unusual for an opposition-held ceramah in these parts; the attempted disruptions by BN stooges and the endurance of the crowd despite the disruptions; their favourable reaction to what the speakers said about the situation in the state - all attested the prevalence of discontent among the people over issues ranging from abuse of land rights to environmental degradation.

The speakers were PKR supreme council member Faris Musa, candidate Suriati and former deputy minister Dr Tan Kee Kwong, all competent PKR publicists, though not exactly stellar draws.

But from the crowd's reception to their raising of issues that were clearly of concern to Mukah's residents, the speakers succeeded in conveying the message that political change must come to the state as otherwise matters for the people would get worse.

Concern over mega-smelter

The issue alluded to by the speakers that stirred the most concern was emissions from the billion-ringgit aluminum smelting plant, located 25 kilometers from Mukah town. Effluent from the plant is dumped into the sea off the Mukah coast between 1 and 2am every night.

Since the plant began operations a few years ago, the vegetation for miles around the plant has withered and birds for the swiftlet-breeding industry in Mukah have virtually disappeared.

"Clearly, the aluminum smelter has damaged the environment in and around the Mukah township," said Tan, who was the evening's main speaker.

"The disposal of effluent from the plant in the waters off Mukah will have long-term effects on the health of the people," he continued.

"The effects on the vegetation and on bird life are already plain for all to see, but the effects on the health of human beings will take years to register and by then it will be too late," added the medical practitioner, who was a former deputy minister of land and cooperative development from Gerakan in the BN government before he joined PKR in 2009.

PKR target: Reduce Taib's majority

Tan told the crowd that Sarawak was a rich state in natural resources but up to a half-million of its young have had to leave the state to find employment in Johor, Penang, Selangor and Singapore, including the migration abroad of the tertiary-qualified.

"Your riches have been reduced to poverty, the diversity and wealth of your environment brought to degradation and damage to your health," he said. "All this is not due to the politics of development; it is the result of the greed of leadership that cannot distinguish between their interest and the interest of the people," he told the crowd. "The election is your chance to change your fate and the fate of your children," he asserted.

Later, Tan told Malaysiakini that from the size of the crowd and its reaction to PKR's message, Suriati's chances of reducing Taib's customary large winning margin were good though an upset was improbable. -terence netto

source:malaysiakini

Sarawak: Undi tanpa takut





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