I refer to the malaysiakini report Taib explodes over family wealth remark . Finally, the wily long-in-service chief minister of Sarawak has met his match with the vocal opposition party asking pointed questions on how his family members have benefitted from his long rule in the naturally rich state.

His outburst is uncalled for if he cannot justify how he obtained his extraordinary wealth. It is an open secret that much of the state assets are under the control of his family through the Cahaya Mata group of companies (CMS being the acronym for chief minister's sons).

His lavish lifestyles with all the trappings of power and pompous living is a well-known fact among the locals there and being the longest-serving chief minister with no successor in sight, one can only assume he will either die in office or let one of his sons succeed him.

Sarawak has the potential to be a well-developed state with all the natural blessings which the Almighty has given them but just like some Third World countries, its wealth is not being fairly distributed to all strata of society. Only the privileged few who hold powerful political positions and their families benefit greatly from their powerful positions of power.

Hopefully, the strong opposition in the state assembly will act as a good watchdog against the excesses of the chief minister and his cronies in office. It is sad to see that although the state is rich, the poor and downtrodden still live in abject poverty while the elite live like there is no tomorrow.

Even the federal government is powerless to act against the chief minister as he controls the political scene in the state with an iron grip. No political figure in the state BN's stable of parties can match his strong position.

The locals can impart a lesson for Sarawak when the next general elections are due. Vote for a strong opposition to check the present state government's lack of transparency and abuse of power. Do not fall for their racial and religious scare tactics and if possible, vote the corrupt incumbent out of office.

We deserve better state governments from the present ones. Having said that, to have free and fair elections where government machineries and funds are not used to keep the incumbent in office is difficult. The present government should allow foreigners with no vested interest to monitor the fairness of our polls in the next general elections in order to have clean elections.

The last polls was tainted with allegations of phantom votes, bribery and vote-rigging. The opposition was also denied its right to use government broadcast facilities to makes their voices heard to the public.

The last Umno general assembly has shown that the party is weak with the delegates blaming all and sundry for the weak economy. Their racist remarks and keris-shaking shows their myopic way of thinking.

It is about time all decent folk in this country regardless of race, creed and colour join forces to vote these self-serving politicians out of office. Surely Malaysians deserve better than this bunch which who don't seem to realise the world doesn't owe them a living.