DAP aims to deny S'wak BN its two-thirds majority
Regina LeePublished: Mar 20, 2011 6:27 AM | Updated: Mar 20, 2011 10:55 AM
Just hours after Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud announced the dissolution of the state assembly, the state DAP has kicked off their campaign in full swing, with its supremo urging to deny BN of their two-thirds state majority.
Just hours after Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud announced the dissolution of the state assembly, the state DAP has kicked off their campaign in full swing, with its supremo urging to deny BN of their two-thirds state majority.
DAP strongman and parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today called on Sarawak voters to make full use of the ballot box; the only way to “ensure Taib steps down as CM”.
“Within a few hours, Taib has demonstrated that his talk of stepping down as CM is so vague and elastic that he and he alone is the sole decider of what it means - and not even Prime Minister Najib Abduk Razak is prepared to cross his path.
“Taib is in fact asking for a blank cheque to continue as CM until he could groom a successor and ‘form a new team’ to govern Sarawak – two tasks which may take him the entire term of the next government after he had dismally failed in the past 30 years to prepare for a succession,” said Lim in a statement this morning.
Taib had announced yesterday that he would be stepping down after the upcoming state elections that he has to call by July. However, it is still unsure how much longer he plans to stay in power after the polls.
The 30-year chief minister had previously made similar announcements, most recently in 2006.
“Although some media reported that Taib had committed himself to a timetable to hand over the chief ministership, it is clear that he did not make any such commitment yesterday,” said Lim.
The Ipoh Timor MP also expressed cynicism at Taib’s retirement ‘plans’, saying that the plans could easily go awry, ‘forcing’ Taib to stay on as CM.
“It is clear that Taib is not stepping down any time soon,” Lim (far right) concluded.
“Short of voting out BN in the next general elections, the only way to ensure Taib steps down as Sarawak CM is to deny them two-thirds majority in the Sarawak state assembly,” he added.
Currently, the opposition holds only seven out of the 71 seats in the state assembly.
DAP’s cartoon campaign
Kicking off their campaign, in DAP’s trademark fashion, is a new video clip to woo the internet-savvy voters in Sarawak.
In the two-minute clip that has been circulating on the Internet, the video rides on the ‘Jasmine revolution’ that had swept through the Middle East toppling two long-time presidents, with hopes that Taib would be the next.
A tongue-in-cheek spoof of Taib, it shows the CM as a gigantic monster with light coming out from his bespectacled eyes.
The monster battles DAP’s Sarawak mascot, a hornbill named ‘Ubah’ (Change), who utters dodgy lines and sounds more like an eagle than the Sarawak native bird.
The spoof has the underdog bird buckling to Taib’s powerful blows at first, but with a miraculous dose of ‘People’s Power’ and ‘Change’ grows in size to match the monster CM, eventually knocking the latter comically into space.
DAP strongman and parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today called on Sarawak voters to make full use of the ballot box; the only way to “ensure Taib steps down as CM”.“Within a few hours, Taib has demonstrated that his talk of stepping down as CM is so vague and elastic that he and he alone is the sole decider of what it means - and not even Prime Minister Najib Abduk Razak is prepared to cross his path.
“Taib is in fact asking for a blank cheque to continue as CM until he could groom a successor and ‘form a new team’ to govern Sarawak – two tasks which may take him the entire term of the next government after he had dismally failed in the past 30 years to prepare for a succession,” said Lim in a statement this morning.
Taib had announced yesterday that he would be stepping down after the upcoming state elections that he has to call by July. However, it is still unsure how much longer he plans to stay in power after the polls.
The 30-year chief minister had previously made similar announcements, most recently in 2006.
“Although some media reported that Taib had committed himself to a timetable to hand over the chief ministership, it is clear that he did not make any such commitment yesterday,” said Lim.
The Ipoh Timor MP also expressed cynicism at Taib’s retirement ‘plans’, saying that the plans could easily go awry, ‘forcing’ Taib to stay on as CM.
“It is clear that Taib is not stepping down any time soon,” Lim (far right) concluded. “Short of voting out BN in the next general elections, the only way to ensure Taib steps down as Sarawak CM is to deny them two-thirds majority in the Sarawak state assembly,” he added.
Currently, the opposition holds only seven out of the 71 seats in the state assembly.
DAP’s cartoon campaign
Kicking off their campaign, in DAP’s trademark fashion, is a new video clip to woo the internet-savvy voters in Sarawak.
In the two-minute clip that has been circulating on the Internet, the video rides on the ‘Jasmine revolution’ that had swept through the Middle East toppling two long-time presidents, with hopes that Taib would be the next.A tongue-in-cheek spoof of Taib, it shows the CM as a gigantic monster with light coming out from his bespectacled eyes.
The monster battles DAP’s Sarawak mascot, a hornbill named ‘Ubah’ (Change), who utters dodgy lines and sounds more like an eagle than the Sarawak native bird.
The spoof has the underdog bird buckling to Taib’s powerful blows at first, but with a miraculous dose of ‘People’s Power’ and ‘Change’ grows in size to match the monster CM, eventually knocking the latter comically into space.
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