Speakers' Corner

Occasional contributions from readers, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Sarawak Report but may be published at the discretion of the site

Elected For Life?

Sarawak Assembly member Ali Biju is reported as stating that as the Sarawak Assembly has been unable to sit due to Covid its lifetime, due to expire shortly, should be unilaterally extended. Proposing this he made no mention of the wishes of the voters who, with less perception than blind men, put him in the Assembly.

The reports on his suggestion do not nominate the length of any such extension. For life perhaps? That would avoid all that election nonsense and the expense of electoral bribery that his party appear to think necessary to secure re-election.

He does not actually go so far as to claim that he has tested his proposal with those who, mistakenly, voted him into office. They have, after all, had their free beer, makan and some soiled low denomination currency notes. What more can they possibly want? Democracy?

The fact that a member of the State Assembly could utter such dangerous nonsense publicly is a measure of just how far democracy has been eroded in the State. Not content with mass electoral bribery at five yearly intervals Sarawakians can now see the prospect of Biju for life, Ugh!

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