DAP leaders adopt an uncomfortably colonialist tone in their rhetoric when speaking about the party’s work in Sarawak. They refer to the party’s work in the hinterland as efforts to “improve the natives’ lives”. Thus the “Impian Sarawak” programme is to “bridge the rural-urban divide” and to bring about other uplifting things.
That isn’t to say that such work is not good. Any effort to repair the state’s logging-ravaged interior is commendable and should be supported. But if that’s your party’s entire shtick, maybe you need to realise that you’re sounding just a tad colonialist.
The Sarawak state election last weekend put this in stark highlight. The overwhelming Barisan Nasional victory saw DAP losing not only rural bumiputera seats (in some cases with their votes outnumbered by independent votes), but also the largely Chinese seats such as Batu Kitang and Repok.
It was sheer arrogance that led to the party’s downfall. It made a great deal out of its West Malaysian politicians being barred from the state, forgetting how little Sarawakians want to do with politics on the peninsula. Nobody in Sarawak cares about politicians here. Sarawakians want to hear their local candidates both Chinese and bumiputera who know the land inside and out.
Of course, the opposition’s supporters in West Malaysia have not been happy with the result of the election. This colonialist arrogance isn’t limited to just DAP; it’s an overwhelmingly West Malaysian thing. And nowhere else is this more apparent than in the way the opposition supporters have responded online, castigating the Sarawakians for their “stupidity”.
Perhaps this unedited comment by an irate Facebook user sums it up best: “Good job Sarawak stay in jungle forever.” According to a compilation of Facebook comments by Raja Petra Kamarudin, it isn’t alone in its ugly condescension to Sarawak voters, as the the following unedited comments show:
“Congratulations Sarawakians, continue burning your candles and collect rain water for the next 5 years.”
“Disappointed with so many ignorant and cheap Sarawakians who voted for BN for money.”
“Sarawak, you can continue to stay uneducated and undeveloped. You’ll never learn.”
The list goes on, with the comments getting progressively viler and more disgusting in their name-calling. It really shouldn’t be surprising then that Sarawak wants nothing to do with their compatriots on the peninsula.
This isn’t a blanket judgement on all West Malaysians and the politicians they support. This is merely to show to what insulting level our opposition parties and their supporters have gone in their condescension. They ignore the specific concerns of Sarawakians, boiling them all down to the issue of “education”. They assume that Sarawakians know less about what they need than the West Malaysian politicians do.
The opposition parties will continue to fail in Sarawak if they refuse to see past their intellectual disdain of voters there. Their declaration of support for Sarawak autonomy becomes mere pretension if they don’t realise that respecting Sarawak’s autonomy also means respecting the right and ability of citizens there to decide what they want.
Adenan Satem didn’t win because of vote buying. He didn’t win because he was in Barisan Nasional. And he didn’t win because of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Adenan won because he took care of Sarawak’s voters, no matter their race or religion. He upheld Sarawak’s independent right to do what it wants. That’s the bottom line.