LETTER | Will Sarawakians be the game changers for Malaysia?

LETTER | The 12th Sarawak state election will be held on Dec 18. Will the Sarawakians deliver one of the best Christmas presents ever for all Malaysians?

With 82 seats up for grabs in the coming much-watched state election, about 1.25 million registered Sarawak voters are eligible to vote in the polls, comprising 1.23 million normal voters, 12,585 military personnel and spouses, 10,458 police personal and spouses, and 113 absent voters overseas.

This is by far the largest state election under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration and Bloomberg rightly calls it Malaysia’s 'Biggest State Poll Under New PM'.

How the Sarawakians will vote will, among other impacts, also influence the timing and outcome of the country’s general election that’s speculated to be held before July 2023.

The polls in Sabah last year did not become a watershed to all things political, social, and economic in the country.

Defining period

And so the Sabah folks continue to be haunted by all of the five-decade-old issues from infrastructure to jobs to healthcare, education, and housing - all because of the decision the voters took.

Let us not blame anyone. It is the decision of every single voter that pawned the future of a state nearing four million people.

Now with Sarawak entering its defining period in history, will you Sarawakians lose sight of the big picture of a future that awaits all Malaysians – East and West Malaysia?

Will you make a decisive, informed, and trusted decision as you drop your ballot into the box come Dec 18? Or will the outcome continue to paralyse efforts to build a greater Malaysia for all Malaysians and not just for the elitists who continue to rob the timber and minerals meant for many generations to come?

Will your decisive action at the ballot box eventually proclaim Sarawakians as the historic ‘game changers’ who paved the way to reset the future of a nation of 32 million people?

We pray for your good judgement. We can only hope that after all the pains that crippled the hopes of 32 million people these past four years, Sarawak will be the saviour where Sabah failed.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.