SCORE = Patronage Politics

Will SCORE be underscored and bring more fortune to those who already display extreme wealth in Sarawak?

For some cynical reasons, people have labeled it Project Ketua Menteri. This statement cannot be wrong when a dictator is not a dictator. After all, the Ketua Menteri controls the State Government and almost all the major businesses in Sarawak or at least his family does.

What we know as the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy has been set to bring all the goodies to the people of Sarawak. That’s what the website says. While you may accept it positively as a step in the right direction which it must be otherwise it will make the government looks stupid, I take it with a pinch of salt.

Let’s focus on what we understand as “patronage politics”. It is when tenders will only be awarded to a selected few within one’s group. With SCORE, it has to be those who have already displayed extreme wealth in the BN group. This is to allow the flow of funds into the bureau to seal BN’s power in the state. Millions and millions of ringgit will then be embezzled legally. To achieve this, the whole system will be in “reverse gear”, that is to say, money will be the instrument to get things done. Everything will then have an “artificial” fee capped to it. Mismanagement sets in, the circle becomes vicious and corruption persists.

When the propagation of a capitalistic environment becomes wider, we shall get a situation where the selected few who controlled the market becoming extremely wealthier.

Some questions that need to be asked are: Will matters get worst in Sarawak? Will it only benefit the privileged few? Will it end up like the "AP" case that benefit only Bumi entrepreneurs? Will workers once again be grossly exploited, underpaid?