PKR has announced it will contest 48 of the 71 seats in Sarawak's legislative assembly. Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was present at the press conference organised by PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian who unveiled the much-anticipated list on Monday.
Baru himself will be contesting the Ba'kelalan seat, where speculation is rife that Prime Minister najib Razak wants his protege Idris Jala to make a challenge.
It is important for the BN to run down PKR as much as possible in the Sarawak polls, which political observers have already called the mother of all battles and predict will be the dirtiest of all elections in history.
Already, Snap - one of Sarawak's oldest parties - has allegedly switched allegiance to the BN, their leaders enticed by BN promises of lucre and positions.
It has all but withdrawn from the Pakatan Rakyat although Anwar is careful to stress that the door will stay open if Snap decides it cannot work with the BN anymore.
“We have a major battle with BN this time around and we don't want to allow any false party to sabotage our efforts, and this is in no reference to Snap," Anwar said at the press conference on Monday.
“Since 2004, after I left prison, I've never felt this kind of reception and sentiment on the ground. There's this mood of growing acceptance to Pakatan and no one can deny that this is the first time in the history of Sarawak that BN is facing a formidable challenge."
“Since 2004, after I left prison, I've never felt this kind of reception and sentiment on the ground. There's this mood of growing acceptance to Pakatan and no one can deny that this is the first time in the history of Sarawak that BN is facing a formidable challenge."
Malaysia Chronicle appends below the full list of PKR candidates and their professional backgrounds:
Nurul Izzah Anwar.
The PKR vice-president made the statement today while addressing Umno’s denial that it was behind a recent sex tape scandal implicating Anwar.
“Indeed, if these claims have any basis, the acid test is for the Umno MPs to urge their president to agree to a public policy debate between the leader of Pakatan Rakyat Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“This will reveal Datuk Seri Najib Razak as either a true political warrior or merely a political pirate like some of his predecessors who continue to fire salvos from the sidelines,” she said.
Anwar, the 63-year old political veteran, has charged that top Umno leaders had masterminded the sex tape scandal in a bid to bury his political career.
Earlier today, Umno supreme council member Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan stressed that attacks on Anwar have always been about his and PR’s policies, and that Umno would never stoop so low.
The video hit media headlines on Monday when a mysterious “Datuk T” invited selected media personnel to Carcosa Seri Negara to view the recording.
The trio of Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay, and Perkasa treasurer and former Umno senator Datuk Shuib Lazim have since been unmasked as “Datuk T”.
Today, Nurul Izzah also issued a challenge to the Sarawak chief minister to debate with PKR Sarawak’s chief, in light of the Sarawak election next month.
“In the same spirit, I repeat Keadilan’s calls for the current chief minister of Sarawak Pehin Seri Taib Mahmud to accept the invitation to a public policy debate with Baru Bian, the PKR Sarawak chief.
“Let us see if Umno and the other Barisan Nasional component parties dare to accept this challenge, for it will reveal if they are truly for a Malaysian politics that is about the contestation of ideas and policies, or if they are really for character assassinations and political piracy,” Nurul Izzah said.
“We will win, because we are right,
and because reason is on our side.”
ANCHOR BEER Hisham
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Art of War in Land of the Hornbills
by Sim Kwang Yang
How is Sun Tzu‘s writing relevant to us? A general election is like any war – the contestants in the polls must win the hearts and minds of the voters. Indeed, they can all learn something from Sun Tzu’s immortal work, ‘The Art of War’.
“Know your enemy and you can win a hundred battles,” said Sun Tzu. The Sarawakelection is no different from a military battlefield, for the players with the most intimate knowledge of their opponents would enjoy a huge advantage over them.It is a truism that information is power. In any general election, all players will try their best to dig up information on their opponents’ campaign tactics and accumulate secret information on rivals to exploit. At the height of election fever, contesting parties will try their best to infiltrate enemy camps using a collection of agents and informants.
In these covert operations, the BN enjoys a tremendous and unfair advantage. The party has at its disposal a vast array of government agencies. Civil servants are tasked with collecting as much information as possible about the situation on the ground and feeding it to the top leadership of the BN.
In this, the Special Branch plays a pivotal role as the agency collates all kinds of critical 
information about the response of the rakyat to the various parties, the strength of the individual candidates and the sentiment of the voters. The rank-and-file of the Special Branch make daily, detailed reports to the top brass on the undercurrents of voters’ feelings. Naturally, the Special Branch share this information with their political masters.
information about the response of the rakyat to the various parties, the strength of the individual candidates and the sentiment of the voters. The rank-and-file of the Special Branch make daily, detailed reports to the top brass on the undercurrents of voters’ feelings. Naturally, the Special Branch share this information with their political masters.In this way, the top politicians in BN will have regular, intricate reports of the ups and downs in the level of support among voters. They can take pro-active measures to shore up weaknesses in their political base by relocating resources and public relations to certain crucial areas.
I have been aware of these clandestine methods at the disposal of the BN since very early on in my involvement in politics. Nothing is truly completely secret in this world, and since the Special Branch operations involve large numbers of officers, it is hard to keep their operations from public view at all times. Information gathering was a common practice during my time, and I am certain it has remained so after my retirement from public office.Apart from the Special Branch, the state Information Department is also roped in to collect data on the response of the grassroots to the various parties. They too make their daily reports to their superiors.
The Special Branch and Information Department were once tasked with the mission to gather information from the public as part of their strategy to fight the communist insurgency. But after the end of the Cold War, both of these government agencies turned their attention towards repressing dissent at all levels. They have become the eyes and ears of the ruling party.
I also understand that even the military has an ‘intelligence’ branch for the gathering of sensitive political information, though it keeps a low and secretive profile.
Some discontent among rural voters
Some discontent among rural voters
The principle of free and fair elections is that no political party should enjoy an unfair advantage over their opponents. All electoral battles must be fought on an even keel.
The kind of information provided by the Special Branch and the Information Department, 
made available exclusively to the ruling party, violates this principal of equality at the polls. This practice must be stopped. All competing parties must enjoy equality of information, a level-playing field, equally ignorant about what other political parties are doing.
made available exclusively to the ruling party, violates this principal of equality at the polls. This practice must be stopped. All competing parties must enjoy equality of information, a level-playing field, equally ignorant about what other political parties are doing.I have a strange feeling that the upcoming state election will surprise Sarawakians in more ways than one. Although a tsunami is unlikely, it is hard to imagine that it is going to be ‘business as usual’ in the hearts and minds of the voters. The BN government will probably still be standing at the end of the campaign, but it is unlikely to enjoy overwhelming support from voters as before.
More seats are going to fall to the opposition, especially among the Chinese-majority constituencies. Obviously, the Chinese are angry over poor governance and are better informed compared to rural Sarawakians. It is clear that the urban voters are determined to make a difference in this coming election.
I also smell some discontent among the rural voters over broken promises of development and the loss of their ancestral land, and this may translate into votes for the opposition in a limited number of rural seats.
We do not have long to wait for the answers to our speculations. All will be revealed on the night of April 16. Make sure all of you Sarawakians go out to vote on polling day and exercise your franchise according to your conscience.Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud warned Najib if you try to force me out you are finish as prime minister he will pull his 29 Member of Parliament
By Seat
[EDIT]
Najib administration believe the departure of the longest-serving chief minister will deflate opposition momentum in the east Malaysian state, which is almost as big as the entire Malay peninsula.
Call it the Najib paradox: the strength of his coalition depends largely upon on how weak he is as Prime Minister. The glue holds because he has no power over his partners.According to the DAP stalwart, Taib has “asked for a blank cheque” to continue as chief minister when he said he would stay to “groom a successor and form a new team” and9 najib shrugs off accusation with impunity; a second has no time for Cabinet meetings; a third dismisses a portfolio as people-centric as railways with the throwaway line that it does not represent her true identity. All the Prime Minister can do is smile and carry on. The smile is wearing thin.A fundamental equation has been quietly reversed Since power is central to umno schemes for the present and future, all parties have, by mutual consent, eliminated accountability from the algebra of governance to create a semblance of stability. Temperament and tantrum can coexist with venality and incompetence
Anwar optimistic as PKR unveils list of 48 candidates to take on Taib
Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle- font size
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PKR has announced it will contest 48 of the 71 seats in Sarawak's legislative assembly. Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was present at the press conference organised by PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian who unveiled the much-anticipated list on Monday.
Baru himself will be contesting the Ba'kelalan seat, where speculation is rife that Prime Minister najib Razak wants his protege Idris Jala to make a challenge.
It is important for the BN to run down PKR as much as possible in the Sarawak polls, which political observers have already called the mother of all battles and predict will be the dirtiest of all elections in history.
Already, Snap - one of Sarawak's oldest parties - has allegedly switched allegiance to the BN, their leaders enticed by BN promises of lucre and positions.
It has all but withdrawn from the Pakatan Rakyat although Anwar is careful to stress that the door will stay open if Snap decides it cannot work with the BN anymore.
“We have a major battle with BN this time around and we don't want to allow any false party to sabotage our efforts, and this is in no reference to Snap," Anwar said at the press conference on Monday.“Since 2004, after I left prison, I've never felt this kind of reception and sentiment on the ground. There's this mood of growing acceptance to Pakatan and no one can deny that this is the first time in the history of Sarawak that BN is facing a formidable challenge."
Malaysia Chronicle appends below the full list of PKR candidates and their professional backgrounds:
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