The future of Sarawak, where are we heading?

Socially:

Talking about social development, one tend to compare Sarawak with the rest of the states and bigger cities such as KL.   Though social problems in Sarawak is showing a worrying upward trend, it is still at a level much lower than those in bigger cities.   Social problems in bigger cities is different.   However, later on when a town spring into big city, these kinds of social problems tend to be out of control.   Crime rates will also be on the rise.   Surprisingly, gansterism in Sarawak used to be amongst the worst.   Sibu used to be known as gangster town way back in the 70's and 80's.   Then there emerge a new breed of triad which haunts Bintulu town just recently.   Thanks to the efforts of YB Datuk Tiong in dealing and cleaning them, if not looks like Bintulu would be the least safest place to reside in Sarawak.

Other criminal activities such as theft, house breaking, snatching and drug pushing in Sarawak as a whole seems to be on the rise.   This is probably due to economic pressure on unemployed citizens.   As can be observed from the recent cases, most of these crimes were committed by foreigners, that is the Indonesians.   This phenomena reflects the low level of security in our state.

There's also the problems of drug taking and gum sniffing amongst our youngsters.   Most youngsters involved in these activities are either being influenced or just fancy to try out new stuff.   Smoking amongst young school students seems to be normal.   This trend has been in existence since the olden days.   Who are to be blamed?   Certainly, parents are responsilbe for this social ills amongst school students for not doing sufficient close monitoring.   Most parents are too obsessed in their daily routine until they are overlooking their so-called parental responsibilities.

These young school students are the future citizens who will take over from the older generations as the backbone of our nation.   If they were not properly educated and nurtured as useful citizens, the future of Sarawak will be socially handicapped, hence will affect the states politically and economically too.

Economically:

At least once in a lifetime, a nation is boud to be hit by economic recessions.  This happens as a result of global economic changes.   Once bigger and dominant countries are being affected, the others follows, unless careful measures are taken.   During Dr. Mahathir's premiership, our country has also been hit by several economic downturn, but the ability of Dr. Mahathir in dealing with these situations has saved our country from being devastated and badly affected.   I really adore him for that aspect.   Our present and future leaders should follow his example and learn from his experiences, as they are not as smart as him.

Thus far, the present economic downturn has not affected Sarawakian individually, but more to corporate and big companies.   Comparably, only a small portion of our Sarawak citizens are affected.   Farmers, fishermen and small business are still doing very well.

To me, the economic recessions and turmoil are the jobs of humankind themselves.   Someone with substantial amount of power wants economy turning bad, and these someone are businessman and policians who benefits from these economic turmoils.   Only human kind themselves can cure and bring the global economy to it's original state.

Since the 1970's, workforce from Semenanjung flocked into Sarawak to look for jobs.   They were either being sent by the government, company or individually.   The presence of the abundance natural resources has attracted tens of thousands foreign workforce into Sarawak.   Presently, workforce from Semenanjung are engaged in white colar jobs such as teachers, the police force, the army, oil and gas industries and plantations where a large portions of the high ranking jobs are being dominated by them.

Compared to Semenanjung, jobs in Sarawak are plenty and the ceiling wages are very low.   Take for example in Semenanjung nowadays shops assistance can easily fetch a gross salary of RM700 per month whilst in Sarawak, the maximum wages is around RM500 per month for the same level of jobs.   Another example is the factory worker's salary.   In Sarawak the average daily wages is about RM14.00 whilst in Semenanjung is about RM25.00.

Given these wide gaps in terms of workers wages between Sarawak and Semenanjung, looks like it would take another 10 - 20 years for Sarawak to be on par with Semenanjung.   Who is/are responsible for these slow economic growth?   Let us find the answer in ourselves.

Politically:

Politically, Sarawak is the most stable amongst the 13 states thus far, in the view of the ruling coalition.   The reason for this political stability is due to the reserved and liberal nature of the thinking of Sarawakians.   These reserved and liberal nature of Sarawakians in turn were due to limited communication facilities and limited amount of foreign cultures and informations to the hardcore government supporters and voters.   Years of brainwashing and shaping by the present ruling coalition has formed an ideologically unbreakable loyalty amongst the older generations towards them.   It would take years of hardwork for the oppositions to wrest the trust of these voters, that even if they were to succeed.   If not, it would remain as it is for the rest of Sarawak history.

Geographical factors too, play an important role in contributing towards the dominance of the present government.   The good performance of the present state government has thus far prevented the federal government from bringing in UMNO into Sarawak.   I am ready to bet, if UMNO were to be allowed into Sarawak land, that would mark the end of BN dominance in Sarawak.   This is especially so, judging from the level of patriotism amongst Sarawakians.   As has been said before, and said over and over again, even a child representing the "Dacing" can easily win any constituency in Sarawak.

This is a democratic country.   Opposition come and go, but BN is always there.   To the older generations, BN is the ultimate government.   If BN lose, there's no government for them.   This has been the mentality nurtured by BN amongst the old folks all those years.   BN and opposition alike, take note of this facts.

However, as times passed, there has been a gradual changes in the perceptions of a much younger Sarawakians towards political situations in Sarawak.   As most of the citizens are now more educated and better exposed to fresh ideas and informations as compared to the older generations who are hardcore government supporters, the trends seems to be a little bit worrying for the ruling coalition.   The younger generations no longer listen blindly to baseless claims and empty promises without first accessing the actual truth, unlike the olden days.

The future of Sarawak politics is gradually changing for the better or for the worst.   Judging from the present development, it is very clear that Sarawakians are no longer become "Pak Turut".   They are now more vocal, sensitive and daring in voicing out their views.   These can be proven with the emergence of countless number of social/political blogs written by Sarawakians.   Most politicians do not believe blogs and bloggers help shape the entity of certain government.   My advise, they better do believe.   They better believe in the "Power of Blogging".

To sum up, Sarawak is heading towards a new direction, which only time will tell.