Speech (3) by Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Sibu Thanksgiving Dinner for Pakatan Rakyat Sibu by-election campaigners at Sungai Merah, Sibu on Sunday, 23^rd May 2010: 

Pakatan Rakyat leadership council will meet next month to chart a strategy to remove Sarawak and Sabah as the Barisan Nasional’s “fixed deposit” states

The 308 political tsunami of the March 2008 general elections two years ago broke the myth of the invincibility of the Barisan Nasional as an unbeatable coalition, with the fall of Barisan Nasional in five states (although one was recovered by BN through illegal and unconstitutional means) and the removal of the hitherto unbroken BN two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The 516 Sibu Miracle, where the Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat made its debut and fielded the first PR candidate in Sarawak winning a seat which the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had described as a BN “fortress”, is a clear and unmistakable message of the deep-seated aspirations of Malaysians, including the people of Sarawak and Sabah, for change and the possibility of the 308 “political tsunami” being taken into its full flush nationally in the 13th General Elections.

Despite strenuous public denials by Barisan Nasional leaders, not only nationally but also in Sarawak and Sabah, there is no doubt that they are fully aware of the far-reaching implications of the Sibu by-election result explaining the recent panicky reaction, both in statements and conduct, of top BN leaders in the two states.

The Pakatan Rakyat leadership council will meet next month to chart a strategy to remove Sarawak and Sabah as the Barisan Nasional’s “fixed deposit” states.

One important meaning of the Sibu by-election result is that Barisan Nasional cannot take Sarawak and Sabah for granted, which have rendered the next general elections a more level playing field in the contest for national power in Putrajaya between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

The 31 Parliamentary seats in Sarawak and the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah are now in for a fairer, and hopefully, healthier contest for the hearts and minds of the people.

The possibility of a change of power in Sarawak in a state general elections which must be held in the next 12 months are now also on the cards.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor