TAIB:NOT THE RIGHT TIME, NO EARLY POLLS IN SARAWAK

• No early polls in Sarawak a damper to PKR’s plans?

KUCHING, Dec 5 — Will Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib’s quashing of speculation that Sarawak was likely to hold an early state election next year dampen Parti Keadilan Rakyat's ambitious plan to wrest control of this resource-rich state?

Contrary to talk fanned by the opposition in recent weeks that the state legislative assembly was expected to be dissolved by the second quarter of next year, the Sarawak Barisan Nasional chairman said the economic uncertainty was not the right time to call for the polls, due in 2011.

"If someone else started to have his own formula, then probably he doesn't know about economics," he had told reporters on Wednesday.

With its massive machinery, Sarawak BN is surely ever ready to face any challenge, especially in countering any perceived threat from the PKR, given its track record as a traditional BN stronghold, having won 30 out of the 31 parliamentary seats in the March 8 general election.

"That an early polls is now out of the question implies that the BN will not be caught unprepared," a local political observer told Bernama.

However, there was a possibility that the current gloomy economic situation might get worse in the next one or two years and the rural people, in particular, would be definitely at the receiving end of such woes, he said.

He reasoned that a longer period in the run-up to the next state elections would help the PKR gain a firm foothold by riding on the growing sentiments, especially among the Dayaks, that the rural-based community was being increasingly marginalised by the government.

"Now, many Dayaks are suffering and quarrelling with the government, especially over native customary right (NCR) land matters, with several cases being brought to court," he said, adding that it seemed that the people (on the ground) wanted a change, including policies concerning land issues.

In the wake of recent statements from several PKR leaders, including its advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, that PKR was confident of wresting Sarawak in the coming state polls, he said it would hardly be a bombshell as it was already making inroads into Dayak-majority constituencies.

And if the large turnout of young Dayak intellectuals at the party's annual national congress in Shah Alam on Nov 29, as well as a slight drop in percentage of BN support from the Malays were any indication, he said the response to PKR's presence in Sarawak was quite substantial.

Certainly, the ruling BN would also have to look at the implication in terms of the popular grassroots support enjoyed by the newly-joined PKR state assemblyman of Ngemah, Gabriel Adit, who had handed over 11,753 application forms on Nov 15 in Sibu.

With Adit's admittance into the Pakatan Rakyat's fold, PKR now has two state assemblymen, including Padungan state assemblyman Dominique Ng, in the 71-seat Sarawak state legislative assembly.

But as to whether PKR's status quo and its apparent acceptance among the people could be used as a yardstick to set Sarawak as a battleground in the next election remains to be seen, especially as Anwar's credibility as a national leader is still being questioned.

"Anwar's credibility is not that high when he said Sept 16 was his target date which he promised would be the date to form a new government," Taib was quoted as saying on Sunday.

In the May 2006 state election, the four-member BN state coalition of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) as its backbone won 35 seats, Sarawak United People's Party (11), Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party and Parti Rakyat Sarawak, both eight.

The opposition DAP won six seats, Sarawak National Party (one), PKR (one) while Adit was the sole independent candidate, who captured a seat.