Interviews conducted by local press reminded me that today (Sunday), is the 100th day Tan Sri Adenan Satem became the Chief Minister of Sarawak.
It is customary for a new official to release a “report card” for one’s first 100 days, reporting what one has achieved for the first 100 days.
In these 100 days, Adenan has shown Sarawakians how different he is, especially when compared to the previous Chief Minister. This “difference” made Sarawakians felt certain newness, as if there was “new hope”.
In the May DUN seating, we (the PR State Assemblymen/women) made a historical courtesy visit to the new Chief Minister and for the first time in the politics of Sarawak, both government and opposition sat down to discuss State affairs.
One thing about Adenan that has gained my respect is how he does things – he is more approachable, and willing to listen and accept the opinions of others.
Many people who saw this immediately proposed a Unity Government for Sarawak. This is not a new concept, as I saw the same operation in the Netherlands while visiting their Parliament. However, with the emergence of TERAS Party on the last day of the DUN seating, it fueled the imaginations of Sarawakians to propose a Unity Government.
Politics is not deathly war, and the government-opposition relationship shouldn’t be seen as an enmity. But to see a “harmonious” picture between the government and the opposition does not mean we have found a middle ground to agree on.
In the first 100 days of our new Chief Minister, he only brought on a new style, but no differences in the policies.
A new style alone will not bring change to Sarawak and will not give the People a better life. Policy wise, there are 2 basic things people look for: a more prosperous life, and a safer society. Here I would like to suggest some things that could be done by Adenan and has not been seen will be done in his first 100 days as CM.
- A stronger economy
- Safer and better living place for all Sarawakian
The people of Sarawak are under strong economic pressures, but Adenan has not reported how he will increase the income of the people and at the same time lower the living expenses of the people.
To increase the income of the people, Adenan could create more business opportunities for the people, especially through fair and just open tenders for government projects. As of now there is a monopoly situation whereby only CMS Road are awarded the maintenance of State roads.
Also, state lands should be sold through fair and just open auctions, and not to be sold to cronies at dirt cheap prices.
To lower the living expenses of the people, Adenan has the power to make housing cheaper. Sarawak is blessed with land, and yet our housing prices are the same as Johor Bahru! Land in Sarawak is sold cheaply to cronies by the government for them to develop, and after such, allowing the market to put a price on it. This way of handling the property market as caused housing prices in major cities and towns in Sarawak to increase to sky high prices. The government could learn a page or two from Singapore by developing houses themselves, functioning as a developer by hiring contractors to build it without selling the land to cronies, and thereafter the houses could be sold to first-time buyers or those in need. This way, we could cut the cost on land, and not transfer the cost of it onto consumers. Monopoly in cement supplying and manufacturing in Sarawak is one of the factor contributing to high price of houses.
Of course, in order to cut the cost for petrol and expenses in purchasing cars, there is the need to improve the public transportation system.
There is also the issue of Environmental Conservation. There are no changes made by Adenan towards the environment harming acts of building mega dams and setting up oil palm plantations. There are 10 more dams to build, the next in Baram. There are now over 1 million hectares of oil palm plantations, most of these use techniques that harm the environment.
Sarawak cities have to be put under CCTV surveillance to become safer.
It is said that a new broom sweeps clean. It is very concerning to see that there are no changes in the policies even with this change of leadership.
As such, what we have seen in these 100 days with Adenan at helm is a new style, but same old policies as his predecessor.
To propose a Joint government especially with this new style do give the people some imagination space, but the great differences in policies has proved that this is impossible.