Guilty of Robbing the Best from our Children

I have spent most of my life as a BN supporter. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. BN has been telling us that they have been making the rakyat prosper with their politics of development.

But, for over 25 years, we know that this prosperity goes mostly to enriching the Taib Mahmud dynasty and his political cronies. We also know that the wealth of the natural resources of Sarawak such as oil and gas has been flowing not to our people, but to people across the sea who do not even know us – to people who categorize us as bangsa “dan lain-lain”. Does anyone know how many hectares of the NCR land has been taken over by the Taib dynasty and his political allies? Why does Taib Mahmud seek medical treatment overseas? Is it because the healthcare standard here is too poor?

Do we want this to continue? Can we tolerate this any longer? Today, we must chart a new beginning for ourselves and for our generations to come.

Sarawak is rich in natural resources – oil, gas and timber. That is what we all know. What we don’t know is – why is Sarawak still one of the poorest states in Malaysia while only a few people continue to amass wealth and land. Do we know why some of our schools still do not have proper electricity and water supply? Why, as an oil producing state, we must suffer from the effects of oil price increase? When big companies go bankrupt, should we allow Petronas to use our oil money to bail them out when people in kampongs like Kampong Biawak in Lundu continue to eat dust of gravel roads even after 50 years of independence? Should we continue to allow the Taib family’s business empire to plunder the wealth of Sarawak and monopolize businesses?

These and many more questions will continue to be asked by generations to come. The answers are within ourselves here and today. The answers are in our very own hands, if only we make the choice today. If we fail to make the choice today, the same questions will be asked by our future generations. Then we have failed them.

If we do not make the choice today and change the course of the future for our children and their children, we are guilty of robbing the best from them. And we will hand over to them, sub-standard education system, sub-standard healthcare system and a state of economy that has high cost of living. Worse, we hand over to our children a Sarawak that has been plundered of its wealth by the Taib family and his cronies.

We know that our only choice today if we want a better future for ourselves and for our future generations is to change the course of the future today. That change means we can no longer have the same people as Chief Minister, as deputy Chief Ministers for more than 20 years. That change means a Deputy Prime Minister must be an East Malaysian. That change means 20% royalty from our oil revenues to fund improvements to our education system and healthcare system.

But that choice is yours. I welcome you to join me in making that choice. And I also welcome you to help others make the same right choice.

Now, what change to we want for our own Bidayuh community? If you ask me, there are certainly many. Many because we have not been treated as equals since independence. Many because the Taib political scheme ensures that we are disunited. Although there are many changes that we want, there are a few very important changes that take priority. One is that we must be united and we need a strong organization and a strong leader that unites us and leads us. We do not need many political parties and many so-called leaders who are actually puppets of Taib Mahmud to keep us disunited. We need strong leaders who works for us, not leaders who enrich themselves and are yes-man to Taib.

Without a strong organization and strong dedicated leaders, the Bidayuh race will continue to remain behind while other races progress.

Again, the choice to change is yours. And again, I invite you to make that choice and I welcome you to help other Bidayuhs to make the choice to change the course of the future for the greatness of our future generations.

Let us not fail our future generation. Let us together make the change happen today.