Even soft-toy mascot Ubah is not spared as BN tries to 'finish off' Pakatan

The battle for Sarawak, now at the halfway mark, has become very intense. 

DAP's soft-toy mascot, Ubah the Hornbill has taken a life of its own. Ubah has attracted a lot of support from almost everyone in Sarawak, so much so that BN campaigners have labelled it a 'samseng' or 'rowdy gangster'.

Malaysia Chronicle contacted PAS assemblyman, Khalil Idham Lim, who has been campaigning in all three PKR, PAS and DAP areas in the past couple of weeks for the latest situation on the ground.
"BN is now attacking Ubah the mascot because it seems to have garnered popular support, even among the kids, and many people have come to view the mascot as a harbinger or a symbol of change," Khalil told Malaysia Chronicle.

Winning the hearts of Sarawakians with Ubah and manifesto

Together with the 10-point power-packed manifesto unveiled last week, Pakatan was capturing the imagination of Sarawakians of all walks of life from across the state.
According to Khalill, the mood and anger amongst the people in Sarawak has been latent but everyone now is at saturation point. In particular, they were fed-up with Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.
The only question mark was will they be able to withstand the intimidation and scare tactics deployed by Taib and Prime Minister Najib Razak, who will personally be camping in the state until polling day on Saturday? Will Sarawakians pluck up enough courage to go for change and vote in the Pakatan Rakyat? 

Meanwhile, the BN has gone all out to condemn the Pakatan's manifesto as "untenable" and "wishing for the stars and the moon". Even Najib and Taib have mocked the Pakatan's call for change with repartees such as, "Change to what? Change to bankruptcy?"
They have urged the voters to stick to the 'sure and steady' by voting for BN, insisting that Pakatan lacked funds to exact any change. Yet of Malaysia's 13 states, Selangor and Penang are the two best run and administered for the past two years running, according to the Auditor-General's report.

"Taib has vowed to make Sarawak the richest state in Malaysia but he had failed to do so after being at the helm for 30 years.  Instead he had made himself and his family members so rich that Taib is one of the world's richest men.  The voters have got nothing to lose by giving Pakatan a chance to change the system and install checks and balaces for the next 5 or even 10 years," PKR MP for Kuantan Fuziah Salleh told Malaysia Chronicle.
Muhyiddin and BN give illogical responses

Despite the decades under BN, there is still a huge lack of proper infrastructure in Sarawak, i.e. water, electricity, roads, schools, latrines in the outer suburbs and interior regions.
According to DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua, Taib and BN should not be given anymore chances. Enough was enough or Sarawak will bankrupt for sure, said Tony.

"Someone once said that the government is like diapers and must be changed on a regular basis.  Sarawak, and even Malaysia, has not changed its soiled diapers for half a century," the DAP leader said.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin has challenged Pakatan to eradicate poverty in Sarawak. According to him, Pakatan would need RM10 billion in an obvious jibe to tell  voters that Pakatan lacked funds.
But PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar condemned the DPM for hypocrisy. Mahfuz point-blank asked Muhyiddin to explain why after investing hundreds of billions over the past decades, the BN had still failed to eradicate poverty in Sarawak.
"What happened? BN is so rich and yet Sarawak is still so poor. Has all the money had gone into Taib's pocket and the pockets of the top BN leaders as well," he told Malaysia Chronicle.
Police and Special Branch camp outside Pakatan centres

The Pokok Sena MP said it was not surprising that Taib was one of the richest men in the word given that he had 30 years to 'hoard' his fortune - at the expense of the Sarawakian people.

Meanwhile, Khalil also informed Malaysia Chronicle that the police and Special Branch officers "had came in big cars" parked in front of the PAS Operations Centre in Muara Tuang.
Khalil was caustic when he said that he was happy with this development as it showed that the law was there to protect everyone, not just BN campaigners and thus there was nothing to be afraid of.

"BN should not talk bad about DAP's Ubah.  Even the young and the old from all walks of life have taken a liking to the cuddly Hornbill soft toy.  BN can always make their own Hornbill mascot by copying a few ideas from us," quipped Khalil.