BY DESMOND DAVIDSON
January 26, 2014
Source: The Malaysian Insider
The prime minister may have sounded the death knell for Barisan Nasional (BN) in Sarawak with his stand on the Allah controversy and the 10-point solution, warned a component party in the ruling coalition.
Charging that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “spineless” stand on the 10-point solution had rendered it worthless, Sarawak People’s Democratic Party (SPDP) Youth wing leader James Guang said the BN would lose the state election if it were held today.
“Christians in Sarawak will teach Najib a lesson,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
“I think most people in Sarawak that I know, or those around me, just want the state election to be conducted as soon as possible.
“They just can’t wait to teach the BN, and in particular Najib, a lesson,” Guang added.
The prime minister had said on Friday that while the 10-point solution allowing for the use of “Allah” in Bibles is valid for Sabah and Sarawak, its use in any other state would depend on the state’s respective religious enactments, like that of Selangor.
The Selangor Islamic Religious Department had raided The Bible Society of Malaysia’s premises in Petaling Jaya on January 2 and seized over 300 Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia and Iban with the word Allah, an action that broke several agreements in the 10-point solution.
Guang pointed out that the 10-point solution – which was thrashed out in 2011 just before the state election – allowed Christians in Sabah and Sarawak to use the word Allah unhindered in their prayers as well as to use Bibles containing the word.
The Sarawak BN won the state election that year and kept its two-thirds majority in the state assembly, even though it lost more seats to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat.
“He’s a politician. Politicians will only know if they are worthy once they get the election result,” Guang said.
He added that in Miri, where he lives, support for the opposition has increased due to Umno’s role in the Allah issue and the prime minister’s silence and failure to address the issue.
“The opposition has forged ahead. The BN will definitely lose (if the election is held today),” he said.
“I’ve not seen people react like this before, but it sure would be an interesting election.
“I bet the Dayak majority seats will go, like the Chinese seats in the last general election.”
The Sarawak state election is not due until 2016.
To illustrate Najib’s dwindling popularity among Sarawakians, Guang drew a comparison between the attendance of the ordination of Richard Ng as the Catholic Church’s new bishop for Miri yesterday and the prime minister’s many visits to Miri over the years.
“He (Najib) never had so many people attending his function like what Ng had.”
Guang estimated more than 5,000 Catholics packed the Miri indoor stadium to witness the ordination.
Among them were former Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Tan Sri Peter Chin and Sarawak Assistant Minister for Communication Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
Lee is also the assemblyman for Senadin in Miri.
“No Najib function matched that, even with free meals thrown in,” said Guang.
A Sarawakian working for a non-governmental organisation in Selangor, Philip Tero, dismissed the 10-point solution as “a tool only for political survival”.
“It was dead when it was signed. There is no real long-term essence to it at the rate events are going.”
Meanwhile, Sabah Council of Churches president Bishop Datuk Dr Thomas Tsen said the prime minister’s announcement on the “variation” to the 10-point solution was confusing him.
“It is confusing to me. To what I understand, the 10-point solution when it was announced (in 2011) has no restrictions for Christians from Sarawak and Sabah anywhere in the country.” – January 26, 2014.
Note to readers: This is my personal observation and views and it does not represent those of my party.
Thank you for voicing it out.. From what i know, 10 point solution is not legalized and it merely a paper, just like the social contract between Borneo and Malaya. Correct me if im wrong.. I like your statement : “No Najib function matched that, even with free meals thrown in,” said Guang”…
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our age is only a number… figure will keep increasing and that goes along with our physical and mental capabilities… let journey continue… :)
TFW, tak naka pemedis ngatur bala supporters enti nyambut penatai pemesai parti politik. Nyu ulih ngumpul serata menua ngiga sida ke free ngenataika diri, voluntarily. When the churches organise the annual Christmas parade, no heavy rain can stop em from coming out voluntarily, with faith in God, to welcome Chirstmas.
With faith, issues of bad roads, untreated water supply, NCR land, etc will become secondary. What is close to their hearts now is the primary issue. And, it is not a good thing to meddle with people’s heart.
Couldn’t agree more. Ba Nanga Latak pia meh, nyau bisi free gift baru bisi meda bala. diatu gereja makin kuat, orang pulai ka gereja baru indah bala sidak ke udah keluar gereja ngagai “menua” bukai pun nyau mulai ka diri baru, “The prodigal son”. Tok akan nyadi the toughest road for BN in Sarawak to survive. Nyau teringat ka maya Gempuru Besai Kristian taun nyin kemari, sidak bisi madah bansa Iban deka pulai ka menua diri alu begulai ngau Allah Taala, udah nyak ila bisi utai ke besai deka nyadi ngagai bansa Iban. Lalu utai nyak deka ngerembai ngagai seluruh Asia Tenggara bempun ari Sarawak. Historically, kitai udah mayuh sumbangan dalam Malaysia ari pembentukan Malaysia, nyelamat ka Malaya maya 13 Mei 1969, maya communis kelia ngau diatu nyelamat ka BN 2008 ngau 2013.
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For once i agree with the writer…it will be tough for BN Swak unless the Sarawakian leaders can prove that matters of the heart can be resolved with legal tender that no future meddling, undermining, intervention of faith can be carried out by Any form of Malayans be it political, religious, social including their planted sympathisers in Sarawak!
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