Despite having the apparent upper hand in the urban cities, Pakatan Rakyat is fighting a tough battle in the rural areas with BN's most powerful campaigm weapon - 'development politics'.This is a term coined by Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud which claims that only BN can bring development to the people.
Apart from showcasing the achievements by Pakatan-ruled states in the past three years, the opposition is trying hard to sell a contrasting concept - that BN must be pressured by a powerful opposition to bring development.
The concept was illustrated by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng who made his first trip to the interior today since nomination day.
"We have to force BN to bring development instead of waiting for them to develop," Lim told some 400 voters in a restaurant at Sri Aman this afternoon.
He cited the example of Kota Sentosa, a seat located in Kuching city and won by DAP's Chong Chieng Jen but which still saw rapid development.
"If you don't force them to develop, they will makan (siphon) it themselves, because BN only knows one type of development that is self-development," he quipped, sending his audience into fits of guffaws.
"If DAP's candidate Leon Donald wins on April 16, the BN will sure build a new hospital for you."
Leon Donald is the party's candidate for Simanggang, a semi-rural Iban seat that encompasses Sri Aman town. It is one of the two native-majority seats contested by DAP.
Dilapidated hospital
Much of DAP's campaign there hinged on the highly dilapidated Sri Aman hospital, which was constructed during the British colonial era.
The people of Sri Aman has been promised a new hospital since the 1990s. Land was bought but construction did not take off because the land was too swampy, but also many felt mismanagement and bribery was involved.
The hospital has no specialists or a general surgeon and lacks an ICU as well as equipment such as a CT scan. Patients need to endure a three-hour bumpy ride to Kuching for these facilities.
"If patients are sent to Kuching Hospital, they need to take the sampan road (bumpy). Even if their condition is not critical, the journey in the ambulance alone would kill them," said DAP Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi (left) during the ceramah.
The recent visit of Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai brought the announcement that the construction of the new hospital will start in 2013 under the 10th Malaysia Plan.
But Ooi described it as a "bounced cheque" because the next general election must be held before the middle of 2013 and Liow may not be retained as health minister.
BN's campaign has been zooming in on the issue of development. Apart from its leaders and candidates repeating that BN is the only party that can bring development to Sarawak, almost all local dailies had published thick special pullouts that echoed this notion.
'Development politics' fits well into the mind of rural voters who are mired in poverty and deprived of basic infrastructure including clean water and electricity supply.
'Big contracts only for towkays'
Lim also took a swipe at SUPP president Dr George Chan's recent statement that it is necessary to award big contracts to towkays because they are capable of handling multi-million ringgit projects.
"He had openly said that they only take care of the big towkays. They are not representing small businessmen, small and medium industries but only representing towkays. Can we support this kind of representative?" said Lim, calling SUPP as the towkay party.
According to a report in English daily The Star, Chan (left) admitted that the government had given priority to certain towkays, but only because it was necessary.
"It is because they have the financial strength and the size to handle massive development projects, like timber harvesting, oil palm plantations, setting up of mills and factories and other housing and infrastructure construction projects."
Lim's presence at the quiet town of Sri Aman attracted an animated crowd of some 400. He was surrounded by dozens of members of the public after the ceramah, asking him to autograph their soft toy 'Ubah' they had just bought.
Some grabbed the opportunity to take photographs with Lim. The ceramah managed to raise RM4,424.
However, he did not have the chance to test his charm in an Iban longhouse as police refused to give the permit for DAP to visit longhouses although the permit was not needed before Lim came.
According to DAP, they were denied the permit on the grounds that approval from tuai rumah is needed and the latter had declined.
'Learn from me'
Besides from DAP, PKR also brought in government leaders from peninsula to convince voters that Pakatan can govern better than BN if given a chance.
Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim (right) showcased Pakatan's achievements after taking over Selangor to some 100 people during a ceramah last night at Kampung Baru Ulu Betong.
They include correcting the previous government's mistakes in the award of the water concessionaire and recovering millions of outstanding debt from BN crony companies.
"(Deputy Prime Minister) Muhyiddin (Yassin) said Pakatan Rakyat cannot govern... actually, he should learn from me.
"Taib Mahmud can sit beside me to jot down notes, see how I do it (governing the state)," he said.
Kampung Baru Ulu Betong falls into the the state seat of Layar, the stronghold of deputy chief minister Alfred Jabu, who is seeking his eighth consecutive term in this state election.
cheers.
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