DIRE STRAITS Sarawak trucks no opposition By Anil Netto PENANG - Malaysia's ruling coalition has swept aside the opposition in state elections in the resource-rich north Borneo state of Sarawak in a major boost for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The Barisan Nasional (National Front's) landslide victory - it bagged 60 of the 62 seats - has also put fears of an imminent Islamic state in Malaysia in perspective. It was a poorer than expected showing by the opposition. The multi-ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) won one seat, while the other seat fell to an independent candidate. In the 1996 state elections, three seats went to the DAP, while independent candidates clinched two. The peninsula-based Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) fielded three candidates to test the waters. All three were trounced, even losing their deposits for not garnering enough votes. The results showed that that PAS's hopes of setting up and Islamic state in Malaysia cuts little ice among voters in north Borneo. Opposition politicians, however, have criticized what they call the dubious tactics of campaigners from the ruling coalition, who repeatedly warned that votes for the Islamic opposition could foster religious extremism. During the campaign period, nine PAS members and supporters on the peninsula who were already under detention without trial under the Internal Security Act were served with detention orders for a further two years. The government says that they were involved in militant activities, but critics accuse the authorities of trying to link PAS to militant activities. The ruling coalition's margin of victory in Sarawak was especially surprising. The opposition had campaigned hard, using local issues, knowing that Sarawak's largely parochial voters had little interest in federal politics. Among the key issues were unfair land acquisition coupled with inadequate compensation for natives, as well as cronyism. Sarawak's autocratic chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who easily brushed aside three independent candidates in his seat, was later reported as saying that the people did not mind cronyism as "it is for the development of the state". It was a disappointing debut in Sarawak for the National Justice Party (keADILan) led by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim. The party fielded 25 candidates and though it performed well in a few areas, but it drew fewer votes than even independent candidates in others seats, losing its deposit in 11 areas. The ruling coalition campaigned mainly on a platform of providing stability and raising living standards. It blamed the keADILan for importing "aggressive tactics" from the peninsula into Sarawak. News reports, however, pointed to irregularities on the electoral rolls, including the names of deceased voters. It was alleged that some voters were paid money to vote for the coalition. The ruling coalition certainly had access to superior machinery and widespread mainstream media coverage, especially over television and radio - and none too subtle at that - in its favor. This was especially crucial in a state as vast as Sarawak, where reaching interior rural populations is difficult. Measuring 124,449 square kilometers, Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia, accounting for 37.5 percent of the land area in the country. Its rainforests are home to more than 8,000 species of flowering plants and over 20,000 animal species. Extensive logging, however, has depleted much of the timber resources and sparked confrontations with natives. In the 1999 federal-level general election, the ruling coalition swept all 28 of the parliamentary seats at stake in Sarawak - which account for 15 percent of the federal parliament's seats up for grabs. Together with neighboring Sabah state, the two north Borneo states contribute 25 percent of the 193 seats in the federal parliament and feature prominently in Mahathir's electoral calculations. Sarawak's population comprises Malay-Muslim Melanaus (21 percent); Ibans, Bidayuhs, other Melanaus and hinterland indigenous people (about 52 percent); and urban-based Chinese (27 percent). The opposition coalition suffered a blow in the run-up to polling day when the DAP announced that it was pulling out of the opposition alliance, the Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front). The DAP cited its differences with PAS over the latter's ideological goal of setting up an Islamic state as the reason. But in the end, it mattered little as far as voters in Sarawak were concerned. Unfortunately for the opposition, it appeared that the discontent among voters in Sarawak was overshadowed by what analysts called the politics of "development" or a "developmentalism" attitude among voters. Such an attitude makes voters look to the incumbent coalition - in power for decades - as the provider of development. They desire to be on the side of "the government" so that they will have access to development and funding allocations for their areas to remain strong. This attitude was reinforced by the coalition's use of state machinery in launching development projects in Sarawak while campaigning was going on - a practice that Malaysia's docile Election Commission turns a blind eye to. For instance, newspapers reported that Mahathir had arrived in Sibu town on September 24, where he took a helicopter to Kampong Semopon Bruit Island, near Sarikei in Sarawak. At the village, he officiated at the launch of a massive water supply project that will benefit about 13,000 people. At the launch, the premier also called on Sarawakians to use the state elections as an opportunity to improve their quality of life. The opposition, he said, would "never be able to do anything for the people". This practice of development politics proved impossible for the opposition to surmount. "Until and unless this ideology of development is broken, it will remain the case that despite all the grievances, the majority of the electorate will continue to undi perintah [vote for the parties in power], the only ruling party they have ever known and one which has so successfully blurred the lines between party and government," said one analyst before the election. With Sarawak under his belt, Mahathir can breathe a lot easier now. He would know that he can in all likelihood bank on the two north Borneo states to overcome any deficit that his ruling coalition may suffer at the hands of reform parties on the peninsula in the next general election due by 2004.

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