I have never written any letter to newspapers regarding political opinions. But reading through your letters column over the last few weeks, I found it enlightening and wish to share my thoughts to your esteemed readers.

Like many others in Sarawak, malaysiakini is quite new to us. Thanks to the massive publicity against your online daily recently, many young professionals in the state are regularly reading through your reports.

A Melanau from Mukah, I find it interesting that there is a wide speculation on our Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's intention to stand in the Mukah/Balingian state seat. While he has many relatives here, local voters believe many issues would make this unprecedented move full of 'land mines'.

The privatisation of Sarawak Land Development Board's (SLDB) oil palm estate in Mukah is a big issue here. Many workers are still waiting for full settlement on their four-year-old negotiated salary increments. Now, after privatisation, the new management is ignoring these agreements.

In a nearby Balingian area, as revealed in the [#1]Sayot Taib website[/#], our chief minister has alienated a new plantation land to Hamden Ahmad. The Iban voters who have been living in the area for over 60 years are certain that they may be forced out from their longhouses and farmland. Many petitions to the chief minister were ignored for over 12 years. I believe there are more than 2,000 votes locked against Barisan Nasional.

'Unforced errors' like these cases may cause BN's potential defeat in many areas. Big tracts of native land were alienated under Taib's cronies and sold to the highest bidders, mostly plantation tycoons from West Malaysia. From Lundu to Lawas, over 22 major tracts remained unsold as wary investors discovered that these lands are claimed by bumiputra who have been living on it for many decades if not centuries.

With the current depressed oil palm prices and the tight monetary policies by the financial institutions following the recent bank mergers, many are waiting to see who will eventually form the next government.

Local Chinese businessmen are silently predicting a change after the coming state elections.

Now with Bintulu's STIDC-APP's paper plantation worth RM4 billion in near-jeopardy because of Asia Paper and Pulp's financial difficulties in the US, things are not moving well for Taib's 'politics of developments'.

The wafer factory recently officiated by Dr Mahathir Mohamad is also known to be facing problems because of the reluctance of the foreign partners to increase investments in view of the depressed market demands. Furthermore the products being manufactured are old stuff and may soon be rendered obsolete.

As such, many suspect there is a major shift in the voting trends this time. Coupled with growing resentment on Mahathir for his actions against former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim and failing in his promise to bring Umno to Sarawak as announced in front of PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu) delegates on Aug 28, 1998, many are prepared to vote against BN.

Taib's challenger and former deputy in PBB, Abang Abu Bakar Mustapha, with his network of independents, may benefit from this.

In Mukah, Taib and Mahathir are called maligun, meaning antiques. If the maligun still look very good, keep them in museums. If the defects are beyond repair, throw them out as trash.

The 'maligun factor' may also have devastating effect on Deputy Chief Minister Amar Alfred Jabu and several others.