Sit up and take note
NORTH VIEW by STEPHEN THEN
If politicians do not perform, they will be booted out by the same folk who voted them in. Period.
IT HAS been a very interesting week in Miri, where politicians from both sides of the political divide admitted that, in urban Sarawak, the term “political master” is no longer relevant.
This must be replaced with the more appropiate “political servant”.
There is now a realisation among Barisan Nasional and the Opposition that they can no longer expect the rakyat to look up to them and think of them as the “political master”, a term popularly used by the British colonialists.
Ordinary folk during those times had to bow to the orang putih and call them tuan.
That practice was passed down after independence, and widely used before the turn of the millennium.
Last Sunday, I had an interesting conversation with SUPP president and former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan.
I also attended a dialogue between DAP, PKR and PAS.
Dr Chan had pulled me aside on Sunday night after I met him during a function and he said: “I heard you were threatened (by certain people) over what you wrote in your column.
“How can these people behave like that? I for one, will not encourage such tactics in SUPP.
“Politicians must realise that this sort of tactics do not work anymore. This sort of high-handed political culture is no longer relevant today.
“Politicians, and those aspiring to be politicians, cannot behave as if they are the masters of the rakyat anymore.
“We politicians are no longer the masters, we are the servants of the rakyat.
“The rakyat and the voters are not beholden to us, we are beholden to them.
“Don’t you ever allow yourself to be cowed by threats,” he went on.
Dr Chan discussed the latest political happenings in his party, and in the state and country, and said politicians could not talk down to ordinary folk anymore because the people who voted them in were the ones in charge, not the other way around.
“The sooner politicians realise this, the better.”
Dr Chan said the days of the people bowing to politicians were effectively over.
“Politicians now need to meet the aspiration of the rakyat. They are expected to solve the problems the rakyat bring to them.
“The office they hold is no longer a privileged position.
“Politicians hold office as the servants of the people. The people elect the politicians, thus the politicians are the servants,” he stressed.
He said SUPP politicians must concede to this new political reality in urban Sarawak if they wanted to last long in the public arena.
Interestingly, the Opposition also said the same thing.
Several leaders held a gathering with community representatives to discuss latest issues in society.
Piasau assemblyman Ling Sie Kiong discussed how he had a difficult time trying to meet the demands from the people in his constituency.
He said the people had bombarded him with all kinds of demands, asking him for cash handouts, squatter relocation land lots, electricity connections and even beer!
The people whom he met during his ground visits bluntly asked him what he could do for them and what he could give them.
“They don’t care whether I’m from DAP, they want to know what I could do for them.
“They have a lot of problems they want resolved. There are four big kampungs and squatter colonies in my constituency.
“Over the past few months, I have visited every house and every family I met asked how I could solve the problems they raised to me.
“We politicians have to sit down at the same level as the people and stand with them at the same level also,” he stressed.
Ling said DAP had always held the belief that the rakyat who voted them in were also the ones with the power to boot them out.
“So what if we become a wakil rakyat. If we cannot solve the people’s problems, they will boot us out.
“They give us five years (per term) to show our capability. If they are not happy with us, the same people who voted us in will vote us out.”
Indeed, Ling, 29, has learnt the new political realities very swiftly.
It was only a few months ago in April this year that he defeated Dr Chan in Piasau.
He is learning how tough it is to be a politician.
To his credit, he is not relaxing or sleeping on the job. He has been going around his constituency, meeting the people and looking into their needs.
It is of course, left to be seen how effectively he can resolve the people’s woes.
In Piasau, there are numerous long-standing land woes affecting thousands of squatters, bad drainage, increasing traffic congestions and the likes.
It is good to note that despite being labelled a giant-killer during the polls, Ling has not been carried away by pride or arrogance.
He has been very down-to-earth and humble, and has placed service to the people as his top priority.
Aspiring politicians, no matter from which political party, must understand this maturing mentality among urban Sarawakians that the people do not automatically accord respect and recognition to politicians anymore.
Politicians are expected to prove their worth, not demand for it as if it is due to them on a platter.
This realisation may have come reluctantly and perhaps even grudgingly, but nonetheless politicians are admitting to this.
The rakyat and the voters in urban Sarawak have matured. They are the masters now, not the politicians.
The political office is no longer a privileged platform where one can lord over the rakyat. It is an office where one has to serve the people and solve their problems.
If they fail to do that, the rakyat will boot them out. The political office belongs to the rakyat. It is not the property of the politician sitting in the office.
That is the stark reality. So politicians and aspiring politicians better take note — you are not the master anymore.
