AS someone who has lived in Sarawak for over a decade, married into the Bidayuh community, and covered Sarawak politics as a journalist, I can say with certainty: Sarawak’s political stability isn’t something you can attribute to the absence of one party – the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
It’s something deeply cultivated over time – through leadership, community wisdom, and an instinct for survival in a complex federation.
So when Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian recently claimed that Sarawak’s peace and progress is because the DAP has never been part of the state government, I beg to differ.
“They are always divisive, polarising and politicking,” he said in the state assembly yesterday, suggesting that DAP’s exclusion is the reason for Sarawak’s enduring stability.
But to view Sarawak’s social cohesion through the lens of who is not in government is to miss the forest for the trees. Sarawak’s political calm is not due to the absence of DAP. It is the result of decades of
local governance that has prioritised pluralism, rural development, and interethnic coexistence.
I’ve seen this up close everywhere in the region where Christians, Muslims, Chinese, Dayaks and the paltry Indian population live side by side, bound not by ideology but by shared harvests, shared
struggles, and a stubborn love for this land.
Yes, DAP has never governed Sarawak. It has won seats in urban areas – Kuching, Sibu, Miri – but it has never held the levers of executive power. But to claim that this alone has shielded Sarawak
from division is a political simplification at best.
I remember covering the late Tok Nan, Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, whose Sarawak for Sarawakians clarion call wasn’t a slogan – it was a recalibration. His tenure gave East Malaysians a sense of pride and agency.
Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg continues that legacy with a focus on the digital economy, green energy, and reclaiming the state’s rights under MA63. This is the true source of stability: leadership with
vision, and a people who know what they want.
Ever since stepping into Sarawak, I was struck by how grounded its politics felt compared to the peninsula. There were no loud race- based spectacles, no manufactured crises. Even those who voted
opposition did so without hostility – they wanted better roads, better schools, not revolution.
Let’s also be honest – DAP has its flaws. It can come across as too urban, too disconnected from rural voices, too easily boxed into a racial stereotype it tries hard to break. But DAP is not the only party that has stumbled in national politics. UMNO, PAS, PKR, Bersatu – each has played a role in Malaysia’s political melodrama. To pin the dysfunction of Peninsular Malaysia entirely on DAP is not just unfair – it’s intellectually lazy.
Sarawak’s success lies in our ability to look past party colours and build coalitions around issues that matter: roads, water, education, job creation. That’s what GPS has done well. But we must also guard against the temptation to vilify others simply to consolidate our own image of stability.
When I speak with my Bidayuh relatives or Dayak elders, politics rarely means DAP, PKR, or UMNO to them. Instead, their conversations revolve around land rights — especially Native
Customary Rights (NCR) and Native Customary Land (NCL) — the education of their grandchildren, and the bread-and-butter issues that shape the future of their communities.
Sarawak’s genius is that it has kept its politics rooted in reality, not rhetoric!
So yes, Dr Sim is right to celebrate Sarawak’s unity. But let us not reduce it to a political exclusion. Instead, let us see the Sarawakian citizenry continue to embrace the hard, patient work of building bridges, respecting diversity, and standing tall as Malaysians from the Land of the Hornbill.
Because in the end, our peace was not built on who Sarawak shut out – but on who they dared to become. – May 28, 2025
Joseph Masilamany is a seasoned journalist and Scoop’s contributing writer