SARAWAK MPs : A BUNCH OF COWARDS

I agree with the opinion of the commentators below that all Sarawak MPs that are too afraid to say a word in parliament be sacked, resign or not elected to be candidate in the coming election.

If they cannot do their job properly to highlight the plight of their own voters in their area then they should be ashamed of themselves and leave the job to others that are more capable.

I think they are too afraid to say a word as not to offend Taib, Sarawak Chief Minister and face the possibility of not being selected as a candidate in the upcoming election.

It is an open secret here in Sarawak that all BN reps are living under the culture of fear and total obedience to the extend that they cannot even say things that might offend 'the white hair'.

In the end, it's we Sarawakians that suffer. We are the largest state in Malaysia, the richest in natural resources and yet we, the people here are among the poorest in the country.

I urge Sarawakian to teach these bunch of losers in the next election by voting for the opposition. We don't need people with 'no balls' to lead us and fight for our right.

FS

Sarawak parliamentarians under fire

Joseph Tawie | Jun 13, 09 12:46pm

Sarawak Barisan Nasional parliamentarians have been accused of neglecting their duties when they failed to speak up for the welfare and the interests of the local people in the state. MCPX "If they have any honour or self-respect they should resign. If not they should be sacked by the people. "We elected our members of parliament to represent us vigorously in Parliament," said Padungan state assemblyperson, Dominique Ng. The people of Sarawak have nothing to be happy about, he said, adding: "Despite being the richest state in terms of natural resources, we are the least developed and have the poorest people in Malaysia. "We were not so bad comparatively at independence, but 47 years on, instead of progressing forward, we have steadily fallen backward due largely in part to non-performing BN members of parliament who have failed miserably in their solemn duties to make our voices heard at the federal level," said Ng, who is Sarawak's PKR leader. He said that they have even failed to raise the issue of the five per cent oil royalty. It was only by electing Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians that the state has any hope of increasing it to 20 per cent as promised by the PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim himself. "It is now the national policy of PKR," he said. The non-performance of Sarawak's MPs was revealed by the deputy speaker of Dewan Rakyat, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. Very low rate of involvement "Sarawak MPs are among the least active when it comes to speaking in parliament, thus they have very low rate of involvement during parliamentary debates." he said. He said that when it came to attendance, theirs was said to be among the best. Unfortunately, their mere presence is hardly noticed because they were not as vocal or aggressive as their counterparts from the peninsula and Sabah. "I dare say Sarawak MPs are the least interested to speak. They seldom speak. More often than not their presence in the Dewan Rakyat is never felt because they do not seize the opportunity to be noticed," he had said this to reporters. However, he had a lot of praise for the sole DAP MP for Bandar Kuching, Chong Chieng Jen (photo) for being very vocal. DAP state assemblyperson for Batu Lintang, Voon Lee San, said that Barisan Nasional MPs by not performing or under performing have done a great disservice to the state. "By not performing or under performing, they have caused slow infrastructure development and restriction of funds and foreign investments into the state as relevant ministries could not plan for the needs of the state. "Issues on oil and gas royalty and the plight of the Dayaks being left behind from the mainstream of development including protection of native lands will not be solved," Voon said. He added: "They should take political responsibility and resign. Parliament is a place where the voices of people should be heard and MPs should not take their tasks lightly. They are to lead the nation and should be very knowledgeable and capable to impart knowledge without fear or favour. 'Sarawak useless people's party' "These MPs from Sarawak are under the political class known as Sarawak useless people's party (Supp)," he said. A Parti Rakyat Sarawak supreme council member Joseph Allen said that Dayak MPs did not speak in parliament because they lacked the materials for their speeches. "What they should do is to make use of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia), Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), NGOs and Dayak bloggers as their 'think tank' and to give them some issues. Not all that these people say are wrong," he said. Allen said that they should mix more with these people so that they would know what were the needs and the problems faced by the Dayaks. "They should raise issues like NCR land and environmental problems caused by oil palm plantations so much so that there are no fish in the rivers. Bring these issues to parliament. Let the prime minister know about them," he said. He said that there seemed to be a tendency to leave the thinking to one man only, in the case of Sarawak, to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. Infected with the 'culture of fear' After Taib had said it, the rest would follow suit and heaped praises on him, said Allen. SDNU publicity chief John Anthony Brian shared the sentiments expressed by Allen and said that the Sarawak MPs did not have a clear master plan for the state and did not do what was relevant. Further more, they had this "culture of fear" and anything controversial they said might jeopardise their chances of being renominated in the coming election. They knew that all issues were tightly-controlled by the chief minister and they were scared of him, he said. Brian said that they, therefore, preferred to make up for the number only, but then they looked like idiots. Another PRS leader Tedewin Ngumbang described the MPs' non-performance as tantamount to betraying their electorate and the parties they represented. "Party presidents should call their MPs and strategise on what to bring up in parliament each time a session is on. Now the MPs have no clue what to bring up except routine matters only," he said. Sarawak has 31 MPs, including one from DAP. Out of the 30 BN MPs, there are 14 Dayak MPs. Two of the MPs are made full-fledged ministers and nine deputy ministers : Malaysiakini