Adenan not Pek Moh

At a SUPP’s meet-the-people at Kuching City Mall in Batu Kawah constituency, Adenan had told about 2,000-crowd that he is himself and not “White Hair” in reference to Taib. As a keen political observer and a government retiree, the way I look at it, Adenan is distancing himself from his predecessor Taib Mahmud.

In 2011, the DAP had a field day, accusing Taib of committing corruption and abusing his power to enrich his family members and crony companies.

The people believed the DAP’s allegations against Taib so they voted SUPP out of all the five seats in Kuching. The DAP told the people that voting SUPP was voting Taib to remain in power.

When the results of the election in the five seats were announced, SUPP lost badly, proving that the hatred sowed by DAP in the minds of the urban voters was a great success beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt.

Now, it is a different political scenario in Sarawak and led by a different political leader of the State Barisan Nasional.

The DAP seems to have run of ideas to stall or slow down Adenan’s rising popularity rating. 

Nevertheless, the DAP people are smart. They link him with Prime Minister Najib Razak and Goods and Service Tax (GST).

They tried to tell the people that it is bad for Sarawak to have Adenan close to Najib who is said to be most unpopular in West Malaysia because of many controversial issues linked to him.

In a few DAP’s rallies that I have been to, the DAP speakers have asked Adenan to force Najib to exempt Sarawak from GST. They said giving exemption to Sarawak could be done.

Anyone knowing the working of the federal system of administration will know that giving exemption to any state is not possible. Once the GST is enforced, it covers the whole country.

GST is beyond Adenan’s control because it is a federal subject under the Federal List of the Federal Constitution.

Why does Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng did not ask for his state to be exempted from GST, if it could be done? Throughout his speeches in the DAP’s rallies, Lim asked Adenan to force Najib to give exemption to Sarawak. This is a clear cut case of the DAP leader lying to the voters. I hope that they are not gullible enough to swallow his lies.

The only way for GST to be abolish is for the opposition to take over the federal government. I am one of the ordinary people affected by the implementation of GST. As a retiree, I , too, feel the pinch of GST.

By David Isaiah -SarawakVoice

May 1, 2016