Dump Taib or suffer..

GEORGE TOWN: Barisan Nasional may lose the next parliamentary battle in Sarawak if Taib Mahmud remains chief minister, according to an academician who was in the state last week as an election observer.

Sivamurugan Pandian, an associate professor of political science at Universiti Sains Malaysia, said the biggest message from the polls was that Taib had overstayed his welcome.


“One could sense that the majority of Sarawakians were not against BN, but were unhappy with Taib,” he said.

He said BN must get rid of him soon or suffer huge losses in the 13th general election.

Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats. It delivered 30 of those to BN in the 2008 general election.

“The biggest message from last week’s polls was that Taib must go, and the sooner the better for BN,” said Sivamurugan.

In last Saturday’s polling, BN managed to withstand a fierce Pakatan Rakyat onslaught to retain its two-third majority in Sarawak.

BN won 55 seats and the opposition alliance took 15. One seat went to an independent candidate. In the previous state assembly, BN held 63 seats.

The popular votes for BN dipped from 63% in 2006 to 55%.

Sivamurugan said BN owed it to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s tactical acumen and personal charm for managing to neutralise the anti-Taib wave.

“His walkabouts and dialogue sessions with local folks managed to sway them,” he said.

He pointed out that feelings against Taib were strong enough to cause the urban vote to swing towards the opposition, resulting in DAP doubling its seat tally to 12.

He said issues like integrity, good governance and human rights influenced urbanites more than rural voters, who were preoccupied with localised concerns such as the provision of basic infrastructure and the supply of utilities.


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