Sagan in trouble?

KUCHING:  The revelation that the Baram MP and Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Jacob Dungau Sagan and his family members were given business contracts in return for his support for the dreaded Baram dam has infuriated the Kanyan, Kenyah and Penan communities in the Upper Baram River.

“Even the Iban and other communities down river are also equally angry if the allegations are true. He has betrayed us as the voters,” said Patrick Sibat, a potential candidate to challenge Sagan in the coming election.

It was revealed on February 25, 2012 by Sarawak Report that Jacob’s family members were given business contracts and belian concessions worth more than RM63 million allegedly as rewards for his support for the construction of the Baram dam.

“Following this revelation, the issue has become the main topic, and everybody is talking about it,” said Sibat.

Although Sagan’s name is not listed in the company named Dema Tiga Sdn Bhd, his wife’s name, and the names of his brother and daughter are reported to be the owners of the company.

Nevertheless, Sagan is implicated as Sharizat Jalil is implicated in the NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) run by her husband.

Sarawak Report alleged that Dema Tiga has received RM63 million in public contracts over the last five years including one for a rural water system funded by the federal government and commissioned by the Sarawak Public Works Department.

It was also reported by Sarawak Report that Sagan, his wife and daughter are the secret holders of three timber concessions to harvest belian wood (iron wood) in his parliamentary constituency.

The belian trees worth several millions of ringgit need to be harvested before the proposed dam floods the area.

“These revelations provide the answers to those who have been wondering why Sagan has been eager supporter of the dam and the defender of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud,” said Baru Bian, Sarawak PKR Chief recently.

Sagan has denied the allegations by certain quarters and individuals who he said were plotting to kill him off in his constituency ahead of the general election.

Sagan has been named by his party, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, as the candidate to defend the seat for the Barisan Nasional.

Saying that he has nothing to do with all these-called timber contracts, Sagan said: “These allegations are the work of certain politicians who are collaborating with non-governmental organisations to tarnish me.

“I am studying all the allegations in details. I am thinking of legal actions against them to clear my name,” he said.

The proposed Baram dam is the most hated of all the dams that have been constructed and Sagan’s strong advocate for the dam may cost him the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan votes.

The anti-Baram dam group has collected more than 20,000 names of those who are against the dam.

The dam once completed will be 162 metres high and will flood an area of 41,200 hectares of mostly native customary rights (NCR) land together with 26 villages and longhouses in the Upper Baram River. Even Sagan’s longhouse of Long Anap will be submerged.

More than 20,000 natives will be forced to be removed and relocated elsewhere.

In the last state election, the Baram dam was the main issue which almost cost Dennis Ngau, a BN-PBB candidate to lose the Telang Usan seat, which is part of the Baram constituency as 55% of 13,623 Kenyahs, Kayans and Punans voted against him. He was ‘saved’ by 2,000 Iban voters from Puyut Polling district in the Marudi constituency.

It is interesting to note that for the coming election Sagan is going to face the same people in Telang Usan who voted against Ngau in the state election. To win, he must have the support of at least 60% of more than 10,000 Iban voters from the Marudi seat, the other part of the Baram constituency.

The big question is:  Can he secure 60% of the Iban voters especially in view of the fact that they are mostly supporters of Sylvester Entri who had been expelled from SPDP? Entri’s bitterness against SPDP and its leadership including Sagan for his expulsion is too deep to be pushed aside.

You may recall that more than 30 longhouses led by their longhouse chiefs were angry over Entri’s expulsion so much so that they tried to stop SPDP President William Mawan Ikom from visiting a longhouse in Marudi in October last year.

Now these longhouse chiefs are looking forward for an Iban to contest the Baram seat, which hitherto has been represented by Kayans and Kenyahs in the last 40 years.

They have in their minds Sibat as their possible candidate. Some prominent Orang Ulu leaders including Harrison Ngau, the former MP are claimed to be supportive of Sibat’s candidacy.

There are also several other forces working against Sagan.  After being an MP for four terms, he is generally perceived as a low performer by the voters.

For a significant number of times, he had delegated to his family members like his wife and brother-in-law to represent him at official functions.

This practice irritates the voters.

It is believed that Sagan is now in ‘hot’ seat.

Baram voters want Iban as candidate

KUCHING: Nowadays Marudi Town is abuzz with rumours that Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat is likely to nominate an Iban for the Baram parliamentary seat to challenge the incumbent Jacob Dungau Sagan, who has been named by Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party as the candidate to defend the seat for the Barisan Nasional.

The potential candidate has been identified as Patrick Sibat, a soil scientist, who is currently a supreme council member of Parti Rakyat Sarawak.

He is expected to resign any time from the party, said his supporters.

PKR has also identified another potential candidate Roland Engan, a lawyer.

Sibat’s supporters have been going around ‘selling’ his name among the voters in Marudi who are no stranger to him as he is not only from Marudi, but had one time stood as a candidate representing Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak in the 1983 state election.

He was narrowly beaten by then a Sarawak National Party candidate the late Edward Jeli.

Sibat’s supporters have met with longhouse chiefs and even with supporters of Sylvester Entri, discussing with them the possibility of Sibat contesting in the coming general election.

Entri is the incumbent Marudi assemblyman, who was expelled from SPDP in October last year.

Recently they met with PKR leaders explaining some of the reasons why the party must pick Sibat if PKR wants to win the seat in the coming general election.

One of the main reasons is that the Iban community which forms the biggest group with 10,294 voters have never been given a chance to contest the Baram seat. The majority of them are from the Marudi constituency.

The other ethnic groups which are from the Telang Usan constituency are Kayans numbering 6,365 voters, Kenyahs and Penans accounting for 4,500 and 600 voters respectively.

Two Kayans namely Luhat Wan and Harrison Ngau and a Kenyah in the person of Sagan have represented the constituency for a period of more than 40 years.

The other reason is that the Ibans in Marudi who are strong supporters of Entri are not only angry with  SPDP but also have vowed to vote any candidate put up by SPDP in the Baram constituency.

In October last year, more than 30 longhouse chiefs had banned SPDP President William Mawan Ikom from visiting their area as his visit would further create disunity among the people.

Mawan’s visit was only made possible with the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Mawan had been warned of the consequences of his visit, but he ignored it; one of which was heightening the tensions between SPDP and Entri and his supporters.

Another factor that is favouring Sibat is due to the strong opposition by the Kenyah, Kayan and Penan communities against the construction of the Baram dam now in progress.

From past records, the Kayan and Kenyah communities were split with 55% voted for the Opposition, and 45% for BN. While more than 2,700 Chinese voters voted for the Opposition, the Malays numbering more than 1,600 voted for the BN.

Kenyahs from Sagan’s own longhouse at Long Anap are against the dam as almost all the Kenyah heartland will be flooded by the dam.

Seen from these perspectives, the Iban votes are considered to be the determining factor. This is how Sibat and his supporters see it.

Even if Roland Engan is to be the PKR candidate, he still needs the Iban factor to win. But will the Ibans vote for him, when they are clamouring for an Iban to be the candidate?

“This is a point that PKR should consider,” said Sibat’s former polling agent.

But Baru Bian, Sarawak PKR chief said that the problem with Sibat is that he is still a member of PRS which is a member of the Barisan Nasional coalition.

“We are not sure how serious he is,” Bian was reported to have told Sibat’s supporters.

Sibat was not available to confirm the story as he was away in Miri allegedly meeting his supporters.  

The Baram Parliamentary constituency has always been a Barisan Nasional ‘fixed deposit’ since 1970, except for a period from 1990 to 1994 when an environmental activist Harrison Ngau defeated BN-Sarawak National Party Luhat Wan.

But for the coming general election, the political situation in the constituency is very volatile due to the strong opposition of the local people against the construction of the Baram dam that will submerge more than half of the Orang Ulu heartland.

More than 20,000 native people will be displaced and their roots, heritage and culture and their longhouses will disappear.

Recently 150 representatives of the Orang Ulu ethnic groups met in Miri calling on the government to immediately stop the construction of the Baram dam.

This and the  native customary rights land-grabbing cases  are going to be the main campaign  issues in the constituency against the Barisan Nasional.