A New Dawn In Sarawak?

Or business as usual?

How about a bit of both with more weight on the new dawn?

The "much-hated" Abdul Taib Mahmud won a thumping victory in his Balingian constituency, beating his closest opponent by a 5,302 vote-majority.

Taib was later sworn in as chief minister.

Of course, not quite a new dawn, that his opponents had hoped for.

Amid the vitriol and venom against Taib and his adminsitration, the Barisan Nasional won its two-thirds majority.

The results : BN : 55, DAP: 12, PKR: 3 and independent: 1.

I bet you thought that the DAP was going to make a clean sweep of all 15 seats it contested. Going by their campaigning and confidence, yeah, it looked like they were going to..
And going by the opposition parties' campaign, you'd thought that they'd form the next state government. Yeah...
Still, it was the keenest and fiercest state election. And, yes, it was a good show by the DAP. They know where their support lies and who they can depend on to give them the votes -- the urban Chinese.
Thanks also to their aggressive "Ubah" (change) campaign. That said -- the DAP is what Sarawak needs -- a strong opposition.

PKR contested in 49 seats and won in 3. Better than the 2006 elections where it won 1 seat.

As for Taib Mahmud, his victory in Balingian was thumping. He obtained a 5,302 vote-majority.

At 8.55pm, the BN won a simple majority.
A little later, it was official, that it secured a two-thirds majority, with 48 seats.

Once again, Taib delivered. His party won all the 35 seats it contested, a repeat performance of the 2006 state elections. That's 100 per cent, man. And that's the BN fixed deposit.

SUPP had some heavy casualties, among whom was its president George Chan who lost his Piasau seat to a DAP newbie Ling Sie Kiong.
The 74 year-old seven-term MP lost by a 1,590-vote majority to the 28 year-old.
As predicted, SUPP won only 6 of the 19 seats it contested to DAP (won 12 and one independent).

Shortly after the final results were made official, Taib Mahmud, wasted no time and was sworn in as chief minister -- his seventh consecutive term..

So, Sarawak woke up today to the same CM but who has promised to bring more development to the state through SCORE, and to step down from his post at a date he will disclose in good time. Could be mid-term, could be after the 13th general election...

It is, nevertheless, a new beginning for Sarawak. It has to be. The same dawn, perhaps.
But certainly, a new beginning.
Some things must change in Sarawak - for better or for worse. Even Taib knows that.

*Also read Rocky's Bru "BN Retains Sarawak With Two-Thirds Majority" HERE!
Big Dog's HERE
Op Ed HERE
Marah Ku HERE
Syed Akbar's HERE
Kickdefella HERE
Jebat Must Die HERE