Sarawakians were laughing. The world was laughing, and the jokes just keep coming. It is really silliness upon silliness, as if Sarawakians – and the world – had become too stupid to not know populist statements from simple truths.
What seems to be forgotten is that Sarawakians in the majority did not fall for populist propaganda in GE14 and after that, populist statements meant to discredit Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), and are not likely to for a long, long time.
Why? Because after May 9, nothing much has changed to convince Sarawakians they were wrong to reject PH and its high sounding manifesto.
GPS wasn’t born on May 9 but came to be on June 12, slightly more than a month after the fall of BN in Malaya.
Now six months young, it has done all the right things and these aren’t based on pre-election promises because GPS wasn’t born yet to be able to make GE14 promises.
BN did have their GE14 promises, too, but these were made insignificant by the PH’s grand promises.
What happens now is the PH government is struggling to come to terms with the fact that there is no magic wand to wield, so you can’t do as you want – or as you had wanted, rather.
Before May 9, PH was saying something along this line: If we capture Putrajaya…
Yes, they did capture Putrajaya, but six months have passed, they aren’t capturing the hearts of Sarawakians because things didn’t change the way the PH people had tried to make Malaysians believe.
Fuel price didn’t go down on May 10; PTPTN borrowers are still repaying their loans and cannot hope to begin making repayment only when their monthly salary hits RM4,000; private sector employees aren’t getting the RM1,500 minimum wage; school shoes are still white; and your small cup of kopitiam kopi-O is still RM1.20.
What prices have gone down to increase Malaysians’ purchasing power? None.
Indeed there are prices that have plummeted, but these aren’t making people happy.
The pepper farmers, oil palm smallholders and rubber gardeners have nothing good to say about the new government that had promised so much but so short on delivery.
If we capture Putrajaya…Putrajaya was captured, some have been made ministers, others deputy ministers.
And you thought, now is the time for real change.
Indeed, there are real changes!
We even have people who have made 360 degrees change.
Before May 9, they spoke like Sarawakians and fought for the fulfillment of MA63; for the state’s oil rights; for UEC recognition; and for federal allocation to reflect the state’s contributions to the national coffer.
In a nutshell, these people were speaking against injustices and unfair treatment of the state by the central government.
After May 9, what have become of these Sarawakians?
One thing for sure is they have become the government where they play court jesters but with a holier than thou attitude.
As court jesters all they do is entertain their masters by telling Sarawakians to make do and be happy – you have money, build and repair your own schools.
And they see sins in big spending – your RM31 million fountain can be built with just RM5 million; and RM40 million to build one school is making an ATM machine for your cronies. For the record, Sabah is rebuilding a secondary school for RM43 million!
But just saying is easy – as easy as drawing and proclaiming manifestos. Otherwise, we could have many more Darul Hana fountains all over Sarawak or A-class schools built on no-class school budget.
Of course, they now know delivering isn’t as easy, which is why Sarawakians aren’t taking these court jesters seriously.
They know they can’t fulfill their promises, and they probably think their clowning would make Sarawakians forget.
If they are entertaining to lull us, let it be, just enjoy the show.
Laugh at the jokes, and laugh at the chameleons, too.
