Urban voters must vote for unity, co-operation

As the country upholds the democratic system of government the people are free to vote for parties or candidates of their choices in any elections or by elections. The non-Bumiputras, who make up the bulk of the urban voters have the tendency to vote for the opposition.

In the State elections in 2006, they voted for the opposition candidates in State constituencies of Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang, Kota Sentosa, Bintangor, Bukit Assek, Pelawan, and Kidurong. Generally, there was a big swing of urban voters to the opposition in all urban constituencies including Miri that saw reduction in the majorities of incumbents including Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan Hon Nam and the President of SUPP in Piasau. The party’s secretary-general Datuk Sim Kheng Hui was trounced in his constituency of Pending by a political novice, Violet Yong of DAP. 

The urban voters demonstrated that they remained anti-establishment by voting for DAP candidate for the parliamentary constituency of Sibu, which used to be represented by Barisan Nasional, in the by-election in April 2010.  They did so in spite of urging for them to work with the government by the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Haji Mohd. Mahuyiddin Yassin. 

It is against this background that the Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud has advised urban voters to organize themselves and decide whether they want to remain inside the government or opt out of it before the elections. The pertinent question that they must ask themselves is whether they want to be part of the government or just be its commentators?  This is what urban voters have to decide in the next state elections which must be held by July 2011. 

Arguably, the most precious thing for anybody to live in a country is to be a citizen and have a say in what will happen to it in future. Those who are not represented in the government can actually consider their citizenship only half the value. Advisably, urban voters should not be tempted to use their power to vote only to express their anger and resentment to those in authority.  Rather, they should use their power to elect people who are already in the government to determine their shares in it together with those of other races. More importantly, they must think how they can live in greater prosperity and harmony with other races in the state and country in future. 

The fates of the people are intertwined regardless of whether they are Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus and others. Therefore, it is a fallacy for a certain community, though it may be richer than others, to consider that it is not necessary for the members to be in the government. It is sufficient for them to have someone to shout, criticize and blame the government for what they perceive to be its weaknesses.

The government, unlike in the colonial days, has to do everything. The government must not only be strong but must help the private sector to be strong as the new engine of growth in the economic development of the State and country. The government, on its part, must endeavor to meet the rising expectation of the people regardless of whether they are Ibans, Malays, Chinese, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu to have shares of the fruits of development. 

For example, the government must motivate people to change with the time. However, they must participate in the government to do so.  They must be involved in the government to tell what new things that could be done for them.  Even now the people still consider themselves to be poor and want to be in the government. They must remain in the government in order to have a say in formulating the kind of policy that should be beneficial to them. 

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, who is also President of PBB, admits that he wants to retire but his party still wants him to stay on.  He cannot overrule his party unless he wants to be called a traitor. They have voiced their support to him to ensure that he will have a comfortable majority in the forthcoming elections. But he will be very sad to form the next government without strong Chinese representation in it.

He remains committed to the pledge to be the Chief Minister of the Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus, the Chinese and other races.  Every policy being formulated must take into consideration welfare and interests of every ethnic and religious group in order to provide the framework for them to work together in common pursuit for greater progress and prosperity.  

He appreciates the contribution of the Chinese towards the economics development of the country,   the Malays for their roles in maintaining goodwill and unity in the country and the Natives in scattered population in rural areas for their sincerity to work together for the prosperity of the State and country.

The Chinese are good businessmen but if they keep on running small businesses they cannot move the country to develop fast; a country  can only  grow very fast by having big companies using modern management and new instruments  in running their businesses. Small businesses by and large are not really experts in modern economic.  At times, the government has to introduce policies that can induce operators to change for better ways of doing businesses. 

Regrettable, the government’s proposal to turn Carpenter Street, which is very narrow, into a pedestrian mall in order to give it a new life, was not accepted by the people. The government was prepared to spend millions of dollars to buy land from the Anglican Mission in order to build the alternative road. It also built the car park at the old Rex Cinema for the purpose. 

Regrettably, the shopkeepers succumbed to campaign by certain groups of people, who did not think of their real interests, to petition the government against turning Carpenter Street into a pedestrian mall. As the government could not force the project on the people, it decided to move it to India street, which has been proven to be beneficial to the shopkeepers; a shop in India street is reported to earn three times more income than before. 

In 1997, when the country had recession, a lot of timber men could not pay their royalty to the government. The government agreed to postpone the payments for one year until they could make profits. Now they, after being saved, get bigger and richer to enable them to diverse to other business sectors to become good contractors, estate developers, tour operators and others. 

In other words, while the government appreciates all efforts of local businessmen to develop the economy, it has to introduce new ideas in order to vastly accelerate its pace of development for common benefits.

benuasains

 *Photos Source: google.com images