YOURSAY 'If Taib Mahmud were the MB for Selangor, whose people are not so easily manipulated, he would have been booted out many years ago.'

Sarawakians rejected Global Witness video, claims CM

Mahashitla: CM Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sarawak was a 'fixed deposit' for BN but because of you, it is no longer so. Why beat around the bush, boosting that you won 25 out of 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak and as such your name is cleared over the expose by Global Witness?

You are able to win at the expense of leaving the rural folks uninformed, uneducated and having to depend on your government for a mere pittance, for decades.

Why threaten to sue DAP's Kota Sentosa assemblyperson Chong Chieng Jen, who is speaking the truth based on the video evidence?

If you really want to clear your name, you should sue and demand apologies from your two cousins and the lawyers concerned. I think I trust your cousins and the lawyers more, even though they were part of your corrupt lot.

MatrixLyn: It's not because they don't believe Global Witness. It's because they don't have access to the Internet and can't understand English, which speaks a lot for your so-called development for the native people in Sarawak.

Kfcman: Taib, do you know how to count? Never before has BN lost six urban seats in the state, so how do you explain this?

Bystander: It is the Sarawak rural folk that you can still hoodwink and control with your might and money. What about those urban seats that you almost totally lost to the opposition? Did it not reaffirm the fact that the informed and the educated Sarawakians are voting you out?

Being a chief minister who relies on rural seats to win is akin to taking control of a class of kindergarten kids and not the intellects from universities who know what you all have been doing over the past 30 years.

Malaysia ABU: Rogue leaders of the past like Hosni Mubarak, Suharto, Ferdinand Marcos and many more like them were also elected with landslide victories for years.

In countries that are undeveloped, poor, where the people are uninformed, the most corrupt leaders can be elected time and again through a corrupt and manipulated electoral process.

Jaguh: Taib, when you lead a state with a corrupt culture, your little payouts are good enough to buy them. From civil servants to longhouse heads to teachers, whatever, you should have won 100 percent of the votes.

Don't forget that in the bigger towns, many are against you. The longhouse residents will change their attitudes soon.

Humanity: Don't blame the rural Sarawakians. They're blinded by the government and probably have not seen the video.

Even if there are efforts to distribute CDs of the video, who can be sure that they have a CD player? Or even if they can watch it, would they want to? They are kept at that income level so they would be grateful for the tiny cash handouts they are given.

People steal their land, and give several thousand ringgit to make them happy and oblivious of what have been stolen.

I am horribly sad at what the government has done to them systematically and purposefully. I'm a Muslim, but I wonder if these 'Muslims' believe in Allah and Judgement Day.

Kairos: It is really sad that the election results in Sarawak have only served to make the corrupt CM more bold and abrasive.

While we make the excuse that perhaps the poor rural native Sarawakians are poor and therefore gullible and easily exploited by cash handouts and fear, yet it is absolutely frustrating that they should choose their own destructive destiny.

Ignorance here is far from bliss. From now onwards, they will be exploited more, oppressed more and bullied more because they are the victims of an evil dictator.

What irks me most is that the federal government, knowing all these excesses but chooses to turn a blind eye to the plight of the victimised. Is there not one righteous person left in the government?

How many more boats need to capsize and how many more poor innocent lives need to be lost or traumatised before justice can be done? In the meantime, the powerful and the corrupt get away scot-free.

Peacemaker: Taib will not stand in Malaysia's crooked kangaroo courts which are under the thumb of the BN administration. That is why he can talk so confidently and thumb his nose at the corruption watchdog.

Jaspall: Taib will never change. Prime Minister Najib Razak is a puppet prime minister. Why catch all those politicians who speak the truth when this man walks free?

Malaysia ABU: If Taib Mahmud were the MB for Selangor, whose people are not easily manipulated and who are generally well-informed on what is happening to them, he would have been booted out many years ago, even faster than former Selangor MB Mohd Khir Toyo.

Justice Seeker: Taib, who voted you and BN in Sarawak? All the uneducated rural voters. So don't be so proud - a majority (51 percent) of the educated rakyat voted for Pakatan Rakyat and only 47 percent voted for BN.

Malaysia now is an apartheid state where the minority is ruling over the majority.

Mushiro: By Taib's same argument, it would mean 51 percent of the people of Malaysia agree with the findings of the Global Witness report.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Najib must be cursing Taib for bringing up this issue of corruption again.

TehTarik: Maybe, what Taib is saying is true. It appears that the Ibans, Dayaks, Kemayan, Penans and Orang Ulu have a love affair with the Brown Rajah.

He can 'pillage' their land. Workers of crony timber companies can rape Penan girls with impunity. The forests of Sarawak have been destroyed and only 10 percent is left, thanks to Taib. Very soon, half of Sarawak will be covered with dams.

Nearly two dozen people were drowned in a boat tragedy due to the lack of proper roads in the interior. Yet, in every election, the people vote for the Brown Rajah. Maybe the people of Sarawak, deserve to have their land pillaged. Taib, for once, is telling the truth.

Tholu: My dear Taib, election results are not a barometer of the people's support of you and your exco, especially in Sarawak and Sabah.

At the most, it is a revelation of how you had successfully manipulated the election by fraudulent means to favour you. You had successfully turned the majority of Sarawakians into political ‘jahiliyahs' (ignorant).

If you are man enough and are honest in your defence of innocence, just let the MACC investigate you instead of accusing it of being 'dishonest and naughty' .

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .