“REPEAT a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”.
This is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
Propaganda, throughout history, has been wielded as a powerful tool to influence public opinion, rally support, and consolidate power.
This has its roots even as far as Ancient Rome where Julius Caesar used his commentaries on the Gallic War to project an image of a victorious and indispensable leader.
In the Napoleonic era, Napoleon Bonaparte understood the value of imagery and narrative, depicting himself as an almost divine figure.
Propaganda was used in both World Wars and currently, its form has become more sophisticated.
However, its intent is the same — to misinform, mislead and misguide the people into supporting a cause.
In Malaysia today, a form of propaganda that is becoming widespread is the attempt to sow distrust among Malaysians when it comes to their counterparts in Sarawak.
Currently, the topic of discussion is the oil and gas tussle between Sarawak and the national oil and gas company.
Sarawak is looking to enforce its state laws whereby Petroliam Sarawak Berhad (PETROS) will assume the role of the sole gas aggregator.
However, thus far, realising this objective has not been smooth sailing. What seemed to be a cut-and-dry affair has escalated with the Sarawak government doubling down on the matter.
After my last column, where I questioned the silence of the federal government on the issue, we have yet to see and hear any response from Putrajaya, tepid or otherwise.
However, what happened instead was a barrage of articles from one particular news portal — I think everyone in Sarawak knows exactly which — published to disparage Sarawak’s image.
It even managed to turn Sarawakians against their state, convincing them that Sarawakians are not that smart — that we cannot be trusted to run our industries using our resources.
What these people are saying, the portal and the people quoted in the article is that we are not competent and we cannot sustain our own oil and gas industry.
I take offence to that. I do.
What’s more depressing is even our own people are buying this argument, judging from comments on social media.
Their perspective is that our lack of experience may lead to potential issues if the state were to oversee the gas distribution. This viewpoint is somewhat disheartening to us.
I think not only are we competent but we are guided by the principles of good governance.
At the same time, this is still Sarawak — and not Malaya — which means we don’t need people from other parts of the country to second-guess our approach and policies.
The Sarawak narrative is clear — this is our right and we want it to be restored to develop the gas industry in Sarawak which in return, would spur other industries and create opportunities for the people.
Of course, the main worry for Malaya now is the money coming from the gas in Sarawak. It all boils down to this.
The perception that is being created is that Sarawak is becoming greedy and taking away what belongs to the nation.
First of all, when did Sarawak’s resources become Malaya’s to exploit at their whims and fancies, especially when the state all these years has been the subject of federal neglect?
If anyone must be accused of greed, it is not Sarawak considering how much we had contributed financially to Malaysia.
The principles of nation-building and national integration must cascade to our development and not just our resources.
You cannot say Sarawak resources fully belong to the country while, at the same time, depriving the state of much-needed development as if it is not part of Malaysia.
Secondly, quick question: Are we slowly descending to the principles of communism where the government i.e. Malaya holds supreme rights to everything under the sun? Because that is not what the founding fathers had in mind.
It is a slippery slope and worrying.
This government has been preaching unity — it’s in the name. Kerajaan Perpaduan.
But how can it fully realise that when you have people at each other’s throats arguing on an issue that can be resolved amicably?
However, it doesn’t appear this federal government has the political will to see that the matter is settled, hence the propaganda pieces — letting it play out in the court of public opinion.
Probably that is the gambit by those in power in Malaya.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Sarawak Tribune.
