Sarawak as a Resource of One-Party Dominance

Abstract

Sarawak State has been called as a “fixed deposit” for the Malaysia’s long-serving ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN). In fact, in the 2013 General Election when BN’s share of seats in the Lower House was only 60％ - the lowest in its history, the BN component parties in Sarawak could retain 81％ of the seats allocated to the state. This paper examines the significance of the state of Sarawak in the national politics based on the electoral and budget data. Through the examination of the data of the past five elections from 1995 to 2013, it will be shown that the BN component parties in Sarawak have succeeded in retaining higher share of Lower House seats than that of BN as a whole: 81％ to 100％ of the Lower House seats in Sarawak BN versus 60％-90％ for BN across Malaysia. The primary reason for the success of Sarawak BN can be attributed to the small size of constituencies that are mostly located in the rural areas in the state. In these constituencies, voters do not have access to the alternative media, and cash-handouts by the BN works as an effective tool to earn rural votes. Despite their electoral contribution, this paper argues that the Sarawak BN has not received the commensurate fiscal and development support from the central government. While the per capita developmental budget to the state from year 2001 to 2010 exceeds that of a median state, the allocation to the state may not be sufficient given the lower average and median per capita income and higher inequality, as measured by the GINI coefficient, in the state. The paper concludes by providing a possible explanation for the Sarawak BN’s decision to remain in the coalition in spite of the limited reward by the federal government: a limited revenue base of the state government as well as social and economic backwardness. These two conditions prompt the state government to continue to rely on the grants by the federal government, resources that could only be secured if they remain within the coalition that controls the federal government.