Why did Pak Lah lied to Sarawakians ?

On 16 March recently, our prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had confirmed to the press that the Brunei had dropped its territorial claim on Sarawak’s Limbang district following an agreement reached between the Sultan of Brunei and Pak Lah himself.

But on 19 March, the Brunei second foreign affairs and trade minister Datuk Lim Jock Seng had denied claims by Pak Lah that the sultanate and Malaysia had already resolved their territorial dispute over Limbang in Sarawak.

The question is why did Pak Lah lied to the Sarawakians at the first place? What were the political motives behind such an inaccurate statement made by Pak Lah? Has Pak Lah lied in order to give credit to Sarawak chief minister and state Barisan chairman Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in order for him to gain some grounds in the coming Sarawak state elections?

Looks like Tan Sri Abdul Taib had already felt the pressure from within his state and the growing influence of the opposition coalition who is going all out to ensure their victory. Abdul Taib is feeling the pinch right now. He had realized that he has been staying in power for too long and in fact the longest in our nation’s history. His monopolization in power, businesses and power abuses in Sarawak had became a talk all over the state and the people are now fed up with this kind of rules. That is why he is banking on Pak Lah assistance on the Limbang dispute in order for him to regain his ground and popularity.

But the Sarawakians knew better. They had been sidelined and divided for over decades by the Sarawak BN so that those in power could monopolize the state’s resources and enrich themselves. The state’s natives are still being left as it in decades ago. No change, nor any developments actually take place in most of the lands in that state. Corporate leaders having close connections with the Sarawak BN leaders were given exclusive rights and permits to conduct loggings in the state’s forest which forcefully misplaced thousands of natives from their homes, lands and farms.

Well, we are all hoping for the best that could take place in Sarawak soon. We hope that all Sarawakians will now come forward to demand for a change and to claim back their legal rights to decide what is best for their state and the people. And they could engineer the change by voting in the coming state elections.

The Batang Ai by-election will also be a testing ground for both Pakatan Rakyat and BN. IN the last state election, we could see one of the state BN’s component SUPP losing its influence when many of its candidates had lost to DAP. And in the last general elections, PKR and DAP also gained some grounds by winning some parliamentary constituencies.

Therefore, the people there could seek the change by voting Pakatan Rakyat. The people there needed a New Sarawak to emerge and rule by their own people.