Choosing a government is not a small matter, it could be one of the most important decisions we made during our lifetime. The consequences of electing a wrong and incapable government are heavy and long-lasting. We have seen and witnessed first-hand in 2018 the repercussions of selecting the wrong government that has impacted our lives, affected our livelihood, and basically shattered our hope for a better future for Malaysia and Sarawak.
We all know what happened in 2018; in search of new hope, people have elected Pakatan Harapan to the Federal Government. Although not an overwhelming majority, however, Pakatan Harapan has given a good enough mandate that guaranteed a working and delivering government. I know many Sarawakian have harbored the hope that this new PH government will be a new beacon of light for Malaysia and for Sarawak, and had held high hope that this new PH government will honor their words and promises and will bring benefits to Sarawak.
Nevertheless, fantasy and reality don’t always cohere with each other. Dreaming is good but when we wake up reality is most often a rude awakening. Pakatan Harapan is a perfect example to show that expectations always lead to disappointments.
In the running up to GE14, Pakatan Harapan had promised the sky. They said they will respect Sarawak’s autonomy and will let Sarawak has more of it. However, after GE14, they don’t even bother to fix our schools despite numerous appeals by the GPS government. Pakatan Harapan Federal Government had the budgets to do so but they were too busy to play politics that the welfare of the Sarawakian children had to take the back seats. And to make matters worse, the GPS government had requested many times that they can use state reserves to fix the schools in Sarawak first then to be reimbursed so that Sarawakian children will not need to suffer and study in broken schools but they were turned down every single time the request was made. Autonomy is the least of their concern when it comes to projects.
And before Pakatan Harapan was elected, we have seen and heard that they have shouted in the loudest of voices that they will grant the 2 east Malaysian states (Sabah and Sarawak) 20% of oil royalty so that there will be more funds for Sabah and Sarawak to conduct our own developments, and for us to take care of our own education and healthcare as according to our needs and desires. However, after the election, when the GPS government pressed for the Pakatan Harapan government to honor their words, instead of fulfilling their promises, they had the gut to tell us that it is to be on a net profit basis (which will be far less than the 5% gross royalty that Sabah and Sarawak are receiving all along depending on how creative their accounting can be). And when the GPS government demanded further, they have the cheek to tell us that their promises and or their manifesto are not Bible, hence, need not be honored.
When lies are debunked shamelessness took over and that was how Pakatan Harapan conduct the business of governing.
And if all these are not enough to convince the Sarawakian voters, then have a look at the Pan Borneo Highway project. This is the game changer infrastructure project planned and implemented by the GPS government together with the then federal BN government in 2016. This Pan Borneo Highway will connect all the big and small metropolitans in Sarawak to allow the free flow of goods and services between them that will induce exponential growth to the Sarawak’s economy when it is completed. This is by far the biggest and most important project for Sarawak, and the GPS government has worked on it earnestly and eagerly from the beginning to make this important project a reality for the state.
From the start in 2016 to May 2018 just before Pakatan Harapan took the Federal Government, 27.15% of project milestones were recorded (slightly better than the forecasted 24.68%). After Pakatan Harapan took office; because of politicking, they managed only to attain 16% more in the 22 months in office to about 43% milestones despite plenty of budgets and resources in their hands. And after the Perikatan Nasional government came into power with anak Sarawak, YB Fadilah Yusof made the JKR Minister, Pan Borneo Highway in Sarawak had achieved additional 25% milestones in 20 short months (from March 2020 to Nov 2021) despite facing the worst pandemic in Malaysian history and some of the strictest and longest MCOs imposed in the country and in Sarawak.
This is due to the right working attitude, the efficient government in carrying out the project, and the government with people’s welfare in mind. This is the Sarawak GPS government.
No compare no despair; choose wisely if you want a NATO (No Action Talk Only) Pakatan Harapan government or an action-oriented government, The GPS Government.
Written by: Tzu Wong