YOURSAY | ‘It is good that S’wakians have bargaining power now. They’ve suffered enough.’

Dr M: No reason for Najib to rejoice over Sarawak BN win

Anonymous #44199885: Sarawakians have had their say at the ballot box and have decided to stay with BN. It is an unsurprising decision as Adenan Satem has courted them and made rational decisions favourable to Sarawakians, which showed him to be different from previous chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

The only black mark on him is the barring of prominent opposition figures, though I doubt the result would have been anything else. Adenan has not shown himself to be corrupt or a racist or a religious bigot or an uncaring leader. He is not incompetent. There are no issues that should cause the people to choose anyone else.

I don’t think highly of the other local BN leaders who have been there for decades and done little to improve the lives of Sarawakians. BN won because all hope has been placed on Adenan. Let’s pray that he is able to meet and fulfil this hope and trust by Sarawakians.

RM2.6 billion turkey haram: Cannot agree more that as far as Sarawak is concerned, Najib is a lame duck. Now his maxim,"I scratch your back, you scratch mine", is going to haunt him and weaken him. Yes, if Najib wants to get votes in the coming general election (GE), he has to give even more. Otherwise, no votes.

This type of support cannot last. As long as Najib can give, they will support. But, how much can Najib give before the Umno warlords begin screaming in protest? I believe it will not take long. Umno is never generous to others, be it monetary or other rights. Time will tell whether Adenan can get all that are promised.

James_3392: Yes ,the weaker Najib is, the stronger Adenan becomes, and by extension the Sarawakians. Make the best out of this situation for the benefit of the people of Sarawak, especially in education, oil money, and religious affairs.

CHKS: If Adenan becomes increasingly more popular, and Najib Abdul Razak becomes increasingly unpopular, consider giving the Sarawakian Adenan to become the prime minister of Malaysia. Why not? In this way, there will be more check and balance, particularly to check Umno, and you can be sure more Sarawakians will be backing this.

YKK: Any fair-minded person should be happy for the Sarawakians. It is good that they have bargaining power now. They have suffered enough. All of these are possible thanks to DAP which allowed them to be able to bargain with the federal government.

Rakyat Kingfisher: Sarawakians deserve to have an allegedly extremely corrupted and incompetent state government, as this is their choice. Even if Malaysia is bankrupted, Sarawakians will not be affected as they will have their own crops and their livelihood sheltered and oblivious to what is happening outside.

They are brought up to only think of their own tribe, village and community, less of the state or even the country as a whole. BN has already corrupted their minds with the desire for gifts of money for their votes.

Unless there is a change at the federal level, there is no chance our country will ever see daylight. It may be better for the opposition to continue to focus on the federal seats, and if possible take the rural Sarawakians to the federal level.

I hope Pakatan Harapan will get its act together (learning to compromise) as soon as possible as the incumbent federal government feels the chance to prolong its alleged corrupted ways and governance is now.

Hibiscus: It will be good if Sarawakians are allowed to determine their own future, of course within the ambit of the Malaysia Agreement. This is so that Project M, as was done to the Sabahans when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was PM, will not be possible.

That most of the Sarawakians are poor despite their state being the second richest in Malaysia is in no small measure due to Mahathir's alleged misrule when he was PM, allegedly keeping the Sarawakians poor so that their votes could be bought with money. Let Najib and Adenan work out how to reverse the terrible wrong done to the Sarawakians during Mahathir's premiership.

Azlan Ahmad: What Dr M had said is correct. The central government has conceded a lot and must honour all that for the people of Sarawak. We might see the beginning of change in terms of state-federal relationship from now on as Sabah will follow suit. Both, as I see it, will want more and more autonomy in future unlike the other states in the peninsula.

Of course, we know the consequences of such phenomena in the long run. One strategic and smart move which Sarawak did under Taib was not to allow Umno to come into Sarawak, unlike Sabah. Why smart and strategic? You have to think and answer that yourself.

Mob1900: Let's see if Sarawak will get what it wants from Najib. So far, the 20 percent oil royalty has already been rejected.

Anonymous_1391693662: I think Dr M is correct. You want to rule, you also must have full control. That's how he survived. But remember, the full control should not be for robbing the country.

Old Views: Sarawak is perfectly right to demand more development, especially in education. It is precisely due to the dismal state of its schools that BN gets elected.


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