Pros and cons to simultaneous polls in S'wak
Published: Jan 22, 2011 5:49 PM | Updated: Jan 22, 2011 5:54 PM
There are advantages and disadvantages in having the 10th Sarawak state election and the 13th general election simultaneously as suggested by the state BN chairperson and Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud recently.
Though the mandate of the government at the national level would only expire in 35 months and S'wak's in July, simultaneous polls should be studied thoroughly.
There are advantages and disadvantages in having the 10th Sarawak state election and the 13th general election simultaneously as suggested by the state BN chairperson and Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud recently.
A senior lecturer at the Social Science Faculty of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Jeniri Amir said although the mandate of the BN government at the national level would only expire in 35 months' time and the Sarawak state legislative assembly's mandate would end in July, the decision to hold simultaneous elections should be studied thoroughly and should not be made in haste.
"If the state election and the 13th general elections were to be held simultaneously, this will certainly have several positive or negative impacts on political developments at the federal and Sarawak levels," he said when met by Bernama in Kuching today.
Jeniri said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who had launched several Economic Transformation Plans (ETP) and National Key Result Area (NKRA) programmes, would certainly need a longer mandate to ensure that everything that had been planned achieved their objectives.
He said there were many problems faced by the people at the lower level, particularly in the rural areas, that needed attention and a solution such as poverty, infrastructure, crime and education, before Parliament was dissolved.
"My observation is that Najib will not make a decision to dissolve Parliament hastily just to fulfill the need of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to hold simultaneous elections," he said.
Nonetheless, Jeniri said the simultaneous elections could help to ease the problems of politicking in Sarawak which would certainly face elections once in every two years.
He said that as far as the politicians in Sarawak were concerned, the simultaneous elections could ease external pressure particularly from the opposition during the election campaign.
"As a BN bastion, all leaders whether from the BN or the opposition would go all out during the election campaign," he said.
However, Jeniri said Taib, who is also the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president, should not worry and use the harsh attacks by the opposition as an excuse to hold simultaneous elections.
He said that as a "fixed deposit", the Sarawak BN had proven to the central BN all this while that the opposition would not be able to wrest Sarawak even if they campaigned all out in the state.
Meanwhile, the chief political secretary to the chief minister, Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said Sarawak BN was well prepared to face the state or even the 13th general elections.
He told Bernama that it was up to the chief minister and the prime minister to decide whether the elections should be held simultaneously or separately.
The last time that Sarawak held the state and general elections simultaneously was 37 years ago in 1974, and now, the Sarawak BN held 63 of the 71 state legislative assembly seats while at the Parliamentary level, it held 28 of the total of 31 seats.
- Bernama
A senior lecturer at the Social Science Faculty of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Jeniri Amir said although the mandate of the BN government at the national level would only expire in 35 months' time and the Sarawak state legislative assembly's mandate would end in July, the decision to hold simultaneous elections should be studied thoroughly and should not be made in haste.
"If the state election and the 13th general elections were to be held simultaneously, this will certainly have several positive or negative impacts on political developments at the federal and Sarawak levels," he said when met by Bernama in Kuching today.
Jeniri said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who had launched several Economic Transformation Plans (ETP) and National Key Result Area (NKRA) programmes, would certainly need a longer mandate to ensure that everything that had been planned achieved their objectives.
He said there were many problems faced by the people at the lower level, particularly in the rural areas, that needed attention and a solution such as poverty, infrastructure, crime and education, before Parliament was dissolved.
"My observation is that Najib will not make a decision to dissolve Parliament hastily just to fulfill the need of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to hold simultaneous elections," he said.
Nonetheless, Jeniri said the simultaneous elections could help to ease the problems of politicking in Sarawak which would certainly face elections once in every two years.
He said that as far as the politicians in Sarawak were concerned, the simultaneous elections could ease external pressure particularly from the opposition during the election campaign.
"As a BN bastion, all leaders whether from the BN or the opposition would go all out during the election campaign," he said.
However, Jeniri said Taib, who is also the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president, should not worry and use the harsh attacks by the opposition as an excuse to hold simultaneous elections.
He said that as a "fixed deposit", the Sarawak BN had proven to the central BN all this while that the opposition would not be able to wrest Sarawak even if they campaigned all out in the state.
Meanwhile, the chief political secretary to the chief minister, Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said Sarawak BN was well prepared to face the state or even the 13th general elections.
He told Bernama that it was up to the chief minister and the prime minister to decide whether the elections should be held simultaneously or separately.
The last time that Sarawak held the state and general elections simultaneously was 37 years ago in 1974, and now, the Sarawak BN held 63 of the 71 state legislative assembly seats while at the Parliamentary level, it held 28 of the total of 31 seats.
- Bernama
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