The people of Sarawak can either vote out the present BN state government in the coming state elections or allow the present 'bad and unfair' policies of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to continue, a leading state opposition leader said today.

Opposition State Reform Party (Star) president Dr Patau Rubis stressed that the time has come for Sarawakians to decide whether they want a regime change by not voting for the Barisan Nasional or allow the present state government's policies on land, the Ali Baba type of business and the growing number of unemployed graduates to continue.

Only a change of regime would bring about better job opportunities for everyone and a fairer and more equitable distribution of contracts and business opportunities instead of being concentrated "in one big Ali Baba business controlled by Taib's family" and remove worries and concerns about land ownership encountered by both Dayaks and Chinese, he added.

If the people of Sarawak decided in favour of continuing the policies of the Taib-led state government and were prepared for what is to come, then that is their choice, Patau told malaysiakini.

He said not only the Dayaks are concerned about the future of their NCR land but also many Chinese as many of their 60-year land leases in all cities and towns in the state are expiring soon and "even if they are going to be renewed the quantum they have to pay for renewal is a big worry as it is unknown."

Ready for elections

The Star chief was commenting on Taib's comments in the Sunday Tribune that he (Taib) had not thought about the election date yet and that the insipiration had not come to call for one.

Patau, a former state assistant minister whom Taib sacked in 1995, said constitutionally the next state elections has to be held before the end of next year.

"The issue is not when elections will be held but rather what the substantative issues of concern to a lot of people in Sarawak today," he pointed out, adding that enormous speculation on election date is probably an attempt to find out the stage of preparedness of the opposition.

"As far as the opposition is concerned, we are always ready for elections."

Meanwhile, a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) senior academic said that the electorate would do well to discuss native customary land rights; how the Sarawak Land Code is used to dispossess natives from their lands; the source of the amazing wealth of numerous politicians in the Sarawak BN; the lack of elected local government; endemic corruption involving local government and the construction industry; over-inflated house prices and rental rates; the utter lack of any public transport system of quality in the state; Bakun and the lack of respect for the electorate by the Sarawak BN.

Three issues

He added that the elections will revolve around three key issues. In the rural areas, the first issue is going to be NCR land juxtaposed against BN-defined "rural development" of infrastructure projects, and logging and large-scale oil palm development.

"The second issue in the rural areas is going to be how much money and developmental lollipops each community and individual is going to get from the BN who shall of course, buy the votes of the electorate, as they have done in every previous state election.

"In the urban areas, the third issue is going to be driven by business conceptions of how the BN politicians have promoted or stymied general or particularistic access to contracts, projects and business prospects within the business community. '

The academic who asked not to identified said there is an undercurrent of corporate dissatisfaction in the urban centres of Sarawak that is centred on corporate perceptions that business deals have been unfairly distributed.