The victory of more than a 2/3 majority that the Rakyat has given to Barisan Nasional must guarantee them of their rights to get continuous improvement in the quality of leadership to uplift their standard of living. More importantly, those elected must adhere strictly to the objective of the common struggle to uphold Sarawak’s multi-racial character no matter what ever challenges that they have to face.
Besides, it is important for them to realize that their primary responsibility is to meet the people, the Natives in particular who are very receptive with the idea of building a multi-racial Sarawak. Generally, the people have been very firm in their commitment to build multi-racial Sarawak.
Understandably, the government being led by Barisan Nasional remains committed to development with the realization that all Sarawakians yearn for greater progress and prosperity; those in the minority must learn to respect their wishes and aspirations.
Admittedly, Sarawak, has limited potentials for development unless efforts can be made to push the economy with the sustainable model of development beyond stage of being a developed nation.
Besides, Sarawak, unlike other States has various challenges that can impede its development. One of them is its small population that is scattered over a wide area. Generally, the people still have low level of education. Hence continuous efforts must be made to restructure the pattern of the population. Besides, efforts must also be made to find out the best way to induce people with better opportunities.
The tract record of the State Barisan Nasional since Sarawak gained Independence through the formation of Malaysia, during the last 30 years under the leadership of Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, as the Chief Minister in particular is one of hard work to develop Sarawak.
At one time Sarawak had the acute problem of having people living in absolute poverty. The Government has been able to eradicate poverty and build what can be considered as a more prosperous and progressive society. There are only about 5.3% of the populations that can be considered as poor people, who cannot stand on their own feet.Generally, the people, though they have yet to enjoy comfortable life, can nurture the hope of having a better standard of living by and by. Besides, Barisan Nasional has never waiver in its commitment to bring about greater development and progress to the State and country.
Understandably, Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, before he retires, has to build a strong team to ensure that all policies that have been proven to be successful, all the machinery that is in top gear and all the planning that has been made to uplift the level of the State’s progress and development to a greater height will be continued.
He pledges to build a strong team among the new people to support the new leadership with the primary responsibility to preserve the harmonious political atmosphere that has been built over the years. The State has been able to preserve the harmonious political atmosphere with the realization that the people want good leadership.
He says one of the enemies of good leadership is being cliquish or having the spirit of cliques even in a party. This is the main enemy to unity and one of the enemies of progress and development of the State.
Therefore, the new generation and new leadership must show a very high standard of political discipline to avoid being cliquish. They must show that they do not practice favoritism and the interests of individuals must be subservient to the objective of the overall struggle to achieve progress and advancement for the people.
Pehin Sri says SCORE, which has a very challenging plan that stretches over one generation, is the opportunity that will uplift the people of Sarawak. But the successful implementation demands nothing less than full dedication towards improving the level of education, competency and skills of the people of Sarawak. Sarawak will need a lot of technical and managerial skills and vocational people to support the big drive towards a trend that is meant to bring Sarawak at least five times more income by the year 2030 from what it is today. That is a big challenge that the people of Sarawak must endeavor to meet.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the most important thing in the election victory is that the State Barisan Nasional has managed to convince voters that Sarawak must have a strong multi-racial government; although the Chinese somewhat started sitting on the fence in the run-up to the election.
He is happy that all Barisan Nasional’s newly elected members of State Legislative Assembly, 55 of them represent all races, not only the major races but even the minor ones like Kedayan, Bisayas and others. Personally, he will always remember that an overwhelming majority of the people have expressed a strong desire to preserve the multi-racial nature of our society.
The new faces comprise of people with high academic qualifications with strong commitment to serve the people and the State. Hopefully, they will appreciate that to have a strong political discipline is as important as having high academic qualifications. Besides, they must also appreciate that dedication with the people is the key motivating factor to ensure that Sarawak will achieve the full aim of SCORE namely to create 1.6 million jobs by the year 2030.
More importantly, they must adhere strictly to the objective of the common struggle to uphold Sarawak’s multi-racial character no matter what ever challenges that they have to face. This is the meaning of the Election victory that all Barisan Nasional’s newly-elected members of State Legislative Assembly must share for the next 20 years. Pehin Sri Abdul Taib admits the just-concluded State election was the most challenging one as it witnessed very different styles of campaigning as compared with the previous ones. There were more outsiders, who were ignorant of local sensitive and customs and traditions, taking part in the political campaign in the run – up to the elections.
He reiterates that he has come of age before he becomes too old, weak and tired and cannot lead with greater wisdom and decisiveness, to think of retirement and has decided to make the recently- concluded State election to be his last election.
He thanks people for giving a strong mandate to State Barisan Nasional to form a very stable government. The State Barisan Nasional will be able to do a lot of hard work with full capacity in the services of the people, State and country.
benuasains
*Photos Source:
http://chiefministertaib.sarawak.gov.my/
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