Monday, June 15

Sarawak parliamentarians under fire ~ Malaysiakini

Sarawak Barisan Nasional parliamentarians have been accused of neglecting their duties when they failed to speak up for the welfare and the interests of the local people in the state.

'If they have any honour or self-respect they should resign. If not they should be sacked by the people.

"We elected our members of parliament to represent us vigorously in Parliament," said Padungan state assemblyperson, Dominique Ng.

The people of Sarawak have nothing to be happy about, he said, adding: "Despite being the richest state in terms of natural resources, we are the least developed and have the poorest people in Malaysia.

"We were not so bad comparatively at independence, but 47 years on, instead of progressing forward, we have steadily fallen backward due largely in part to non-performing BN members of parliament who have failed miserably in their solemn duties to make our voices heard at the federal level," said Ng, who is Sarawak's PKR leader.

He said that they have even failed to raise the issue of the five per cent oil royalty. It was only by electing Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians that the state has any hope of increasing it to 20 per cent as promised by the PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim himself.

"It is now the national policy of PKR," he said.

The non-performance of Sarawak's MPs was revealed by the deputy speaker of Dewan Rakyat, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.


Very low rate of involvement

"Sarawak MPs are among the least active when it comes to speaking in parliament, thus they have very low rate of involvement during parliamentary debates." he said.

He said that when it came to attendance, theirs was said to be among the best. Unfortunately, their mere presence is hardly noticed because they were not as vocal or aggressive as their counterparts from the peninsula and Sabah.

"I dare say Sarawak MPs are the least interested to speak. They seldom speak. More often than not their presence in the Dewan Rakyat is never felt because they do not seize the opportunity to be noticed," he had said this to reporters.

However, he had a lot of praise for the sole DAP MP for Bandar Kuching, Chong Chieng Jen for being very vocal.

DAP state assemblyperson for Batu Lintang, Voon Lee San, said that Barisan Nasional MPs by not performing or under performing have done a great disservice to the state.

"By not performing or under performing, they have caused slow infrastructure development and restriction of funds and foreign investments into the state as relevant ministries could not plan for the needs of the state.

"Issues on oil and gas royalty and the plight of the Dayaks being left behind from the mainstream of development including protection of native lands will not be solved," Voon said.

He added: "They should take political responsibility and resign. Parliament is a place where the voices of people should be heard and MPs should not take their tasks lightly. They are to lead the nation and should be very knowledgeable and capable to impart knowledge without fear or favour.


'Sarawak useless people's party'

"These MPs from Sarawak are under the political class known as Sarawak useless people's party (SUPP)," he said.

A Parti Rakyat Sarawak supreme council member Joseph Allen said that Dayak MPs did not speak in parliament because they lacked the materials for their speeches.

"What they should do is to make use of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), NGOs and Dayak bloggers as their 'think tank' and to give them some issues. Not all that these people say are wrong," he said.

Allen said that they should mix more with these people so that they would know what were the needs and the problems faced by the Dayaks.

"They should raise issues like NCR land and environmental problems caused by oil palm plantations so much so that there are no fish in the rivers. Bring these issues to parliament. Let the prime minister know about them," he said.

He said that there seemed to be a tendency to leave the thinking to one man only, in the case of Sarawak, to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.


Infected with the 'culture of fear'

After Taib had said it, the rest would follow suit and heaped praises on him, said Allen.

SDNU publicity chief John Anthony Brian shared the sentiments expressed by Allen and said that the Sarawak MPs did not have a clear master plan for the state and did not do what was relevant.

Further more, they had this "culture of fear" and anything controversial they said might jeopardise their chances of being renominated in the coming election. They knew that all issues were tightly-controlled by the chief minister and they were scared of him, he said.

Brian said that they, therefore, preferred to make up for the number only, but then they looked like idiots.

Another PRS leader Tedewin Ngumbang described the MPs' non-performance as tantamount to betraying their electorate and the parties they represented.

"Party presidents should call their MPs and strategise on what to bring up in parliament each time a session is on. Now the MPs have no clue what to bring up except routine matters only," he said.

Sarawak has 31 MPs, including one from DAP. Out of the 30 BN MPs, there are 14 Dayak MPs. Two of the MPs are made full-fledged ministers and nine deputy ministers.

12 comments:

Ichit Nyelang said...

1. Datuk Haji Wahab bin Haji Dolah - Igan

2. Masir Kujat – Sri Aman

3. Billy Abit Joo - Hulu Rajang

4. Ding Kuong Hiing - Sarikei

5. Dato’ Dr James Dawos Mamit - Mambong

6. Dato’ Sri Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah - Mukah

7. Datuk Dr Tekhee @ Tiki Anak Lafe - Mas Gading

8. William @ Nyallau Anak Badak- Lubok Antu

9. Alexander Linggi – Kapit

10. Joseph entulu – Tatau

11. Sulaiman Taib - Samarahan



Of the 11 Sarawakian MP without voices, 7 of them are Dayak, Billy Abit Joo , James Dawos, Tiki Lafe, Alexander, Entulu, William Badak and Masir Kujat.

Anonymous said...

As a Sarawakian, I am purely ashamed of our BN mps. No doubt Bung Mokthar seems to shout unnecessarily thing in parlimen but he remind us of sabahans. sthat's why Sabah was given more budget compared to sarawak. It is true that we have the poorest citizen in sarawak unless ones have never go to longhouses. Parai kitai.

Banting said...

As I can see it, YB Wan Junaidi doesn`t agree that Sarawak MPs should focus on problems in their constituencies only, instead they should debate on policies that benefit our state and international matters. But after some MPs voiced their disappointment on Junaidi`s stinging remarks against them, today he twists his fact urging MPs Sarawak to defend the Chief Minister of Sarawak when he noticed that Sarawak MPs did not defend CM Sarawak when he was verbally attacked by the opposition in parliament.

It seems that Wan Junaidi is more happy if Sarawak MPs rise up to rescue CM Sarawak, instead of bringing problems in their constituencies.

chapchai said...

Let's not be naive here. The Sarawak MPs are there to make up the numbers to form a majority. That is their one and only role. Maybe it's a good thing they don't open their mouths. They might just do what that Anifah guy (Foreign Minister?) did at the press conference with Hilary Clinton - embarrass us!

Agom said...

" I.. I boss." To defend your boss being criticized during parliament debates is more important than problems in your constituencies.

My dear friends Yang Berhormat MPs, the morale of your boss is superior to the grievances and plights of your constituents.

Anonymous said...

It really should not surprise anyone that these MPs are tongue tied hen they are supposed to be vocal in fighting for their peoples rights or they are just there to make up the numbers5 or 50 year have passed izzit ?? Another decade and it will still be the same.They just cannot take the slightest constructive comments can they?Sheeesh am I ashamed or what!
If they cannot put together a coherent reply to any query do you expect them to debate any issues at all?
Well voters deserve what they voted in
and good luck!

Hyster Rical

Anonymous said...

I just can't disagree if those MPs who are suppose to be the peoples' voice and ears are not sensitive and do not perform their duties well as expected, need to be replaced drastically in the next election. Why should we spare them?
In order to make 1Malaysia policy a reality, I believe their passive behaviour will leave us the dayak the laughing stalk.

Apai Semalau said...

Ya (coconuts)! Thats the only vocabulary that our Sarawak MPs know in Bahasa Melayu. Thats why they dare not open their month in parliament. They just lack the ability to speak in bahasa melayu lest they make a fool of themselves. How many of them can speak fluent bahasa? YB Chong's fluent bahasa will make them look more stupid amongst their counterpart. How many MPs in SUPP, PRS etc. have passed their secondary school Bahasa papers?
Now thats one reason why the folks in Kapit never gets to see a road! Your MP didn't dare to open his big mouth! Like the majority of Sarawak MPs his presence is not noticeable. Come election time, in villages he speaks the loudest but as timid as a "chit/tikus" when it comes to debate in parliament. In semananjung 98% of villages have road access.
All credit goes to YB Junaidi for bringing up this issue.

Anonymous said...

Almost half of the MPs are Dayaks. Yet they can't even solve issues like NCR land. What the hell are they there for anyway? Decoration?

Triplets Js said...

I think that those MPs being mentioned should take this criticism positively. It is not as if the MPs are blameless people as they are human beings too. all of us need to be corrected at some points in life right?

I suggest that the MPs should put this issue to rest and let us all be receptive to criticism to the betterment of our wellbeing.

Let us hope our MPs perform better after this and thanks to Nancy Shukri for defending herself as she has every right to do so if she is not one of the quiet MPs.

Anonymous said...

Such statement by Wan Junaidi should have been made in the open 10 years ago. Infact in the recent BA by-election James Masing did mention such statement to that effect when he said Jawah Gerang did not lobby enough to bring development to BA. Bear in mind, Jawah Gerang was a BN MP at that time. It's not just BN MP's that are silence but also state DUN as well. Sarawak YB's are generally makan gaji buta.

Now they want to fight Wan Junaidi. There is nothing to fight because the rakyat know it well enough that Wan Junaidi is right. Even Nancy Shuki who thinks of herself as a hero among the YB's is not performing well. I come from her constituency and we have not seen her in our kampong. Even in the last election, she did not bother to campaign to our areas because the Ibans are not important to her knowing very well that who ever is the candidate bearing a BN logo will win. I hope things will change for S'wak. To my Dayak BN YB's, please consider to switch to PKR for the sake of your own people. Your Dayak people have entrusted you as their representative and you can be more civil YB's by delivering what they want such as on issue on NCR and basic amenties that you have not done well via BN.

The benchmark for our YB are Wan Junaidi and Tiong of Bintulu. Cheers to both of you.

Anonymous said...

A pity state we are in.. we elect them and they slaughter us, it is time we look for a new kind of leaders among us.