Sarawak is Pivotal to BN and PR

Ever since Anwar won the Pematang Pauh by-elections, Pak Lah has kept Taib close to him.  Pak Lah knows Sarawak is the last bastion for the BN that cannot shake lest it sounds the death knoll for 50 over years of rule.

It was rumored that Pak Lah flew from Penang to JB to meet with Taib on the early evening of the Pematang Pauh election day when Pak Lah knew that the constituency was a lost cause.

For a while, Anwar had tried to quietly woo Taib and other component parties in Sarawak but to no particular success.  Taib knows his position and understands the peculiar position Sarawak plays in the possible fall of BN and the possible rise of PR.  It’s Sarawak that will tip the scales either way.

Even now, Sarawak, not Sabah, remains the crucial tipping point

Can’t Ignore Economic Challenges – Is there a Bipartisan hope?

Although the Rakyat in Malaysia has been feeling the strain from the inflationary pressures largely impacted by the global financial challenges as well as the unnecessary large fuel price hike in June, our cost of living has skyrocketed and our standard of living has plummeted.

We feel the pinch (correction: punch) of the economic contraction on the street first and this is certain in everybody’s daily lives.  Everything edible or inedible has gone up except salaries.  Even of late, housing loan repayments have gone up too.  Our propensity to spend has diminished.  That also means the propensity to save has diminished too.  And this time round, it is significant.

However the Government tries to persuade the Rakyat the opposite will not work because the stark reality has set in to all walks of life.  Inflation is nothing racial or religious or political.  What we face in economic and financial challenges has no color or creed.  But how we are equipped to face up to it should not either and our economic policies and execution should be for all Malaysians.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has published another wake up call.  Carried by TheMalaysianInsider (read here), this report pointedly tells us Malaysians that what we are told by the Government is just not true.  Here is a summary: