Photo shows GPS flags. — Bernama photo
COMMENTARY: If there’s one thing the 12th Sarawak Election seems to have in abundance, it’s uncertainties.
It was perhaps uncertainty that compelled leaders of the state’s ruling coalition, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), to push for the lifting of the Emergency on Nov 5, 2021, when Covid-19 was still chalking up a high number of new cases daily.
It appears to be a gamble, but perhaps now is as good a time as any for the election given the uncertainties with the virus.
Just recently, a new and more contagious variant, dubbed Omicron, emerged and looking at the country’s experience with Delta, it may just be a matter of time before it reaches the state.
We can only hope that Sarawakians do not forget the lessons learnt in the new norm and that the Election Commission will put in place standard operating procedures that will protect us further during the polls.
That said, many Sarawakians do feel that three months until the appointed time for the Emergency’s end on Feb 2, 2022, is not a long wait.
GPS leaders, however, have asserted that they needed a fresh mandate because they were in “injury time” as the Dewan Undangan Negeri should have already been dissolved in June this year.
But that move to seek the lifting of the Emergency ahead of the full injury time has led to their opponents accusing them of voter suppression.
They allege that GPS is more afraid of the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 in January next year than of Covid-19.
The Undi18 movement, which has been lobbying for the lower voting age, has claimed that if the state election is held before the end of this year, some 125,000 to 135,000 Sarawakian youth voters would be disenfranchised.
Taken together with the implementation of the automatic voter registration, it has been reported that there could be more than 1.9 million new eligible voters that could determine the political future of Sarawak.
GPS leaders are supposedly uncertain about the sentiments of young voters towards them and that they might not have appreciation for their service from their time in Barisan Nasional (BN).
The GPS leaders have rejected the allegations; with chairman, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, pointing out that Sarawak was in fact among the states that had already paved the way for the voting age to be lowered.
But if the opposition parties believe they have the under 21 voters in the bag, they might also be mistaken. Those with leaders who are long in the tooth would appear to have limited appeal with Generation Z voters. Do they even know the difference between being cringey and lit?
Still, the biggest question marks are hanging over GPS’ head this election as it will be its first real test since it’s formation following the collapse of BN in the 2018 general election.
After some five decades in the national coalition, will GPS – comprising Abang Johari’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) – be able to make a clean cut?
Their opponents are not letting them forget their ties with BN and its purported excesses or mistreatment of Sarawak. How can they even refer to a track record without acknowledging the coalition that they were part of?
The GPS leaders, however, have kept it together, maintaining that any compromise or collaboration on the national stage is being done in the name of political stability for the sake of the nation.
But will the coalition’s recent move to align itself with Perikatan Nasional (PN), where Islamist-party PAS is a member, in the new federal government backfire?
Unlike its PN ally Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), PAS, which is rejected by many Sarawakians, is reportedly aiming to contest in as many as 11 of the 82 seats in the state polls.
Also, will GPS being in the new federal government with BN lynchpin party, Umno, be a sticking point after some of its leaders had fallen from grace?
Indeed, the state polls will be a test of not only the people’s support for the coalition but also for the Abang Johari administration.
The state has seen major leaps in its revenue and in the diversification of its economy since he was appointed chief minister in 2017, particularly in the settlement with Petronas on the State Sales Tax and the push for e-commerce and other high-tech projects.
But will those ambitious projects and the large expense they incur reap votes during the polls, or will the people see them as a waste of funds and mere vanity projects?
Similarly, are Sarawakians satisfied with the GPS government’s progress in the restoration of their state’s rights as an equal partner in the formation of Malaysia?
Abang Johari’s leadership in GPS is now also being tested by the jostling for seats not only within component parties but also between the parties.
Will he be able to rein them in and ensure that they don’t become their own worst enemy when he announces the GPS line-up of candidates today?
Then, there is the matter of the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem. He made a huge impact on the people in the short time that he was the chief minister, especially with his unequivocal stand on state rights.
His untimely demise is still felt to this day and Abang Johari has had to live up to his legacy. Will he be able to step out of Adenan’s shadow?
Undoubtedly, GPS will win the two-thirds majority in the Dewan Undangan Negeri and go on to form the new Sarawak government, thanks in part to the bickering between opposition parties.
But in a state that has been virtually led by the same parties for decades, GPS needs to do more than just win in order to separate itself from its predecessor and be its own man, so to speak.
Winning one less seat than the 72 it secured in the 2016 election will not do, neither will finishing with a decline in vote majority.
For the era of GPS to truly begin, the coalition needs to secure an unimpeachable mandate – that much is certain.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3dcuzP0
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