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Thesun 2009-04-06 Page02 Its Going To Be Close As Fatigue Sets in
Thesun 2009-04-06 Page02 Its Going To Be Close As Fatigue Sets in
tory-making moments with the presence of two the party with his
chief ministers, from Sarawak and Selangor, and deputy, secretary deputy chairman for the Chinese community.
the sight of two well-known Sabahan brothers and a committee He suggested that MCA president Datuk Seri
– Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Datuk member yesterday. Ong Tee Keat be appointed to the positions.
In a statement, Loke said Malaysians of all
Dr Jeffrey Kitingan – sitting far apart cursing in front of the mild-mannered and races have long accepted and rendered their full
from each other, not to mention the heavy socially-affable rural folk. support to the ideology of an administration based
demand for accommodation and heavy “They are obviously not used to this on power-sharing.
presence of police personnel. kind of demeanour,” he said. “However, after 52 years of national independ-
Then there was an intending inde- PKR is also facing problems in terms of ence, we continue to feel that the so-called power
pendent candidate who was all gung-ho funds, a fact that Kadang readily admitted. -sharing is just a mere slogan rather than a practi-
about contesting but never get to submit Funds are needed to campaign here cal situation which we all yearn to become true
his nomination paper although he and his where a large number of voters are scat- one day,” he said.
seconder and proposer had entered the tered in more than 150 longhouses, with “Hence, Malaysians are rather frustrated and
nomination centre. those in hinterlands like in Ulu Engkari are dissatisfied with our real situation now as it is
Of course, the thousands of cheering or almost eight hours to reach by longboat. merely empty talk.”
jeering supporters from both sides will be The Election Commission itself is spend- Loke said the creation of the posts will not only
the subject of debates and discussions in ing no less than RM400,000. Petrol bills help to realise the true ideology of the power-shar-
the months to come. alone are quite substantial, given that an ing administration but “it will also denote that the
PKR is generally perceived to be using estimated 6,400 are reachable by roads, and government gives importance to the role and
the by-election to about 1,600 others contributions made by the Chinese towards the
test its accept- in the interior process of nation-building”.
If given the position of deputy prime minister,
ance among the
Ibans. A win N.29 BATANG Ai by-election by the Delok,
Lemanak and Ong could help to draw up a fairer and a more jus-
will mean the Engkari rivers. tifiable policy beneficial to all, especially in areas
party can contest Jawah is bank- relating to the Chinese in the fields of economics
in more Iban majority seats in coming ing on the support in his and Bawin’s and education.
elections. traditional strongholds like in Engkari He also reiterated that Ong should be appointed
“A win against the all-powerful BN will Ulu, Engkari Ili and around the Batang Ai the deputy chairman of the BN Supreme Council.
be an iconic win,” said Paul Kadang, a PKR resettlement scheme. “This will truly manifest the real scenario of
campaign official. The BN has been relentless in its assault power-sharing in the administration of Datuk Seri
Apart from accusing the BN of being in all areas in the constituency. Najib,” he said.
greedy and corrupt, PKR has been utilis- “We don’t consider any area to be white, Loke pointed out that MCA had represented the
ing the native customary right (NCR) land grey or black. We move into all areas to en- Chinese in the struggle for the nation’s independ-
development issue to woo the 8,006 voters sure nothing short of a convincing win for ence together with Umno and MIC in 1957.
of whom 95% are Ibans. Mussen,” said Second Minister of Resource “Hence, in the process of nation-building, the
“We have articulated to the PKR head- Planning Datuk Amar Awang Tengah, one contributions made by both MCA and the Chinese
quarters that we will use this issue to the of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) community are huge and tremendous,” he said.
fullest,” said Nicholas Bawin, PKR director most vocal non-Iban campaigners. “As a far-sighted leader with brilliant political
of operations for the by-election. The BN’s campaign received a morale leadership, Datuk Seri Najib should see the impor-
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president boost on Saturday when Umno deputy tance and necessity of creating both positions, of
Datuk Seri Dr James Jemut Masing said president Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin flew in which the MCA president should be appointed
PKR had erred in conducting its campaign to assist in sending Jawah to his Waterloo. to.”
in an aggressive manner, by shouting and – Bernama