Weapon of the Weak- 1

The people of Sarawak have nothing to lose except the brutish rule that has turned them into subservient and pliant putty. For 30 years, Taib Mahmud and his gang have shaped the putty into unquestioning objects and digits. Receiving a sudden windfall of RM 500, RM1000 or whatever amount must not be treated as the universal panacea for all the hurt and grief that you have suffered.

It is worth repeating- people of Sarawak have nothing to lose but the chains that have kept you in servitude. You were slaves to the white haired Rajah.

Here is a major problem for the BN tacticians and strategists. The sex video is not salable. The promises for development are not salable. Nothing seems to sell that can replace and heal the deep hurt and grief.

The people in Sarawak are not buying the sex video story. The sex video is a wholly semenanjung affair and does not concern Sarawak. Sarawakians are consumed with only one thing at the moment- kick out Taib Mahmud. With Taib Mahmud out, you have solved half of your problems. Do not be derailed from your historic mission.

And you can already sense the horrifying panic among BN politicians who are trying to instigate people not to make rash and rushed decisions. What rash and rushed decisions? That rash and rushed decision was made 30 years ago and the result has been nightmarish days and nights. You have been living under the oligarchic rule of Messrs. Taib Mahmud and his family, Alfred Jabu, and George chan. Your own James Masing is but a peon and thamby.

The only regrets that Sarawakians are going to feel will be felt IF they don't take the opportunity to create history by democratically kicking out a brutish state government. This is the only weapon of the weak. Use it decisively. This is the only effective weapon against oligarchy and plutocracy. Don't mind the meaning of these terms. They represent whatever is bad that Taib Mahmud has brought to bear upon Sarawak.

Taib Mahmud has become a loathsome figure that symbolizes everything repugnant about a government. Incompetent, negligent, corrupt, arrogant, hypocritical, bully and so forth. Taib Mahmud is a liability to BN. and you must keep it that way. Let BN keep Taib Mahmud and it will sink together with him.

What Taib Mahmud has is a huge war chest with billions of Ringgit. What he has is the threat of coercive tactics. The rakyat are fearful of the instruments of repression. The presence of army personnel or police near and around long houses are sufficient to induce pliant behavior.

But let the people of Sarawak be reminded- you have the greatest weapon of all. YOUR VOTE. You also have the law on your side.

Sarawakians must celebrate the victory of the 640 villagers from Kuala Nyalau and Ulu Nyalau who were awarded RM66.75 million by the Bintulu High Court recently. The laws can't be twisted forever by the powerful oligarchy- for that is what the Sarawak government has become. It's no longer a party for the people. It's a party for the elite and the rich. It's the party for towkays represented by SUPP, a party for people like Taib Mahmud, Awang Tengah, Jabus and George Chans.

The people of Kuala Nyalau and Ulu Nyalau are just common people, driven by the desire to correct an injustice. Sarawakians have only this mission- to correct the injustices brought upon you by the oligarchic government of Taib Mahmud. The people of Kuala and Ulu Nyalau fought for a 13-year-long legal battle with the state government.

What did it show? Victory is possible.

Learn from the examples of ordinary villagers Amit Salleh, BakDrahman, Sapuan Abdullah and Chapon anak Banyai. They, on behalf of 636 other villagers, had sued the superindent of the Land and Survey Department, Bintulu, the Minister of Planning and Resource Management and the state government of Sarawak for seizing their land. The villagers claimed the government had expropriated 3,022 acres of native customary rights (NCR) land in 1998 for the purpose of constructing an aluminum smelter plant.

The pattern was the same elsewhere. Villagers were given alternative sites to relocate. For the Kuala and Ulu Nyalau people, they were given an alternative site located in Tanjong Panyung, which was swampy and unsuitable for planting.

That's land grab for you.