‘Blue Waves versus Political Tsunami’: Sarawak and the 2008 Malaysian General Election

Abstract

The 2008 general election was a disastrous outing for the National Front (Barisan Nasional). The party not only failed to retain two third of the seats in the national parliament but lost five states to the opposition. The defeat was attributed to strong opposition politics which had created ‘political tsunami’ of sorts and swept across several states which were formerly BN’s stronghold. The defeat in several states also marked the end of BN’s hegemony. It begs the question of whether BN is still relevant. Ironically Sarawak remained a bastion of BN and the party won all the parliamentary seats except one. BN’s win in Sarawak was likened to a ‘blue waves’ (blue is the colour for BN’s flags) that like ‘political tsunami’ in Peninsular Malaysia had swept away all the opposition candidates except for Bandar Kuching. However, despite the big win in term of seats the support for BN in the urban areas declined greatly with some of its candidates won with a slim majority. This article examines the contestation between ‘blue waves’ and ‘political tsunami’ in Sarawak during the 2008 elections. The contestation is examined in the contexts of ‘politics of developmentalism’, which really impacted the electoral outcome in the rural areas. ‘Politics of developmentalism’ is put into practice by using government projects as patronage tools for sustaining and securing political support. This strategy works well especially in the rural areas where politics is still very much driven by the urge to fulfill basic needs.

Keywords: Election, politics of development, patronage, Native Customary Rights, opposition pact

ABSTRAK

Pilihanraya Umum 2008 telah membawa ‘bencana’ kepada Barisan Nasional (BN). Parti itu bukan sahaja gagal mempertahankan dua pertiga kerusi di parlimen, tetapi tewas di lima buah negeri. Kekalahan ini dikaitkan dengan politik pembangkang yang bertambah kuat serta mengakibatkan ‘gelombang tsunami politik’ melanda beberapa buah negeri yang dahulunya merupakan kubu kuat BN. Lebih daripada itu kekalahan di beberapa buah negeri telah juga mengakhiri hegemoni BN dan seterusnya menimbulkan tanda tanya sama ada parti itu masih lagi relevan pada hari ini. Menariknya, Sarawak sekali lagi menjadi kubu kuat BN. Kemenangan BN di Sarawak pula ibarat ‘gelombang biru’ yang telah meranapkan harapan calon-calon pembangkang di Sarawak kecuali Bandar Kuching. Istilah ‘gelombang biru’ digunakan sempena warna biru sebagai warna bendera BN. Walaupun menang dengan jumlah kerusi yang banyak, tetapi hakikatnya ialah bahawa sokongan terhadap calon-calon BN di kawasan bandar merosot. Makalah ini membincang pertembungan di antara ‘gelombang biru’ dan ‘tsunami politik’ pada pilihanraya 2008 di Sarawak. Pertarungan ini dilihat dalam konteks ‘politics of developmentalism’ yang memberikan kesan kepada keputusan pilihanraya khasnya di luar bandar di Sarawak. Salah satu daripada cara ‘politics of developmenatlism’ yang dilaksanakan ialah melalui pemberian projek-projek kerajaan sebagai alat penaungan dengan tujuan mengekalkan dan mendapatkan sokongan. Jelas bahawa strategi ini berkesan di kawasan luar bandar kerana pengundi luar bandar masih lagi kuat didorong oleh keinginan untuk memenuhi keperluan asas mereka.

Kata kunci: Pilihanraya, politik pembangunan, penaungan, Tanah Hak Adat, pakatan pembangkang