BN supporters of Kampung Lusut Jaya deprived of basic needs

Despite their strong support for the Barisan Nasional, the residents of Kampung Lusut Jaya 1 area in Miri are yet to taste the fruits of Merdeka.

According to Jembu Bangga, the village chief, the government should give official recognition to their village and look into their basic needs like proper roads, water and power supply.

“We have been supporting the BN government all this while, and hence surely the village deserves some projects in return for their support to the government,” he said at the Miri district Dayak community leaders pre-Gawai Dayak celebration over the week-end.

The celebration was officiated by the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Peter Chin. Also present were Lambir state assemblyman Aidan Wing, political secretaries to the chief ministers, Ariffin Lamat and Watson Bangau and government officials.

Located next to Taman Tunku, Kampung Lusut Jaya 1 has 109 houses with a population of 542 of which 390 are Ibans, 89 Orang Ulus, 39 Malays, 19 Chinese, five Bidayuhs and three Melanaus.

Upgraded roads and bridges linking the village to Taman Tunku will enable bus service to be extended there, saving time and energy for the villagers to walk all the way to the nearest station.

The village chief said that villagers are currently sharing water meters on a voluntarily arrangement. He also called on the government to build a clinic, a community hall and a market where they can sell their jungle produce.

These villagers have been asking for development year in and year out and the government has ignored their requests. And their requests will continue to fall on deaf years, unless their elected representative either State assemblyman or the MP dies or resigns.

Look at Batang Ai, it has been neglected for more than 27 years. Suddenly its YB passed away, thus opening the way for the by-election. During the by-election, nearly RM200 million of worth of projects have been approved.

Will it help if the villagers ask the Opposition to come and establish a foothold in the area? – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving dinner

On Wednesday night (29 April), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) organised a thanksgiving dinner to celebrate the BN’s victory at the recently concluded Batang Ai by-election. The dinner was held in Kuching and was attended by some BN leaders including Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

At the dinner PRS president James Masing spoke of the “unity and excellent” example of teamwork of Barisan component parties from Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia that helped ensure their victory.

“If all BN components in Sarawak, the Peninsula and Sabah can work together as we have done in Batang Ai, we can beat anything that the opposition parties throw at us,” he said.

Was Masing telling the truth? Or did he say it to please DPM and others present? That is really a good PR exercise. During the campaign for the Batang Ai by-election from 29 March to 6 April, we were told that Masing was furious that he was left on his own with no money coming from the other BN.

Lucky for Masing, one of his men who had business contracts, had to come up with over RM500,000 to help finance the election. A PRS supreme council member, Tedewin Ngumbang admitted that PRS and members toiled hard to look for money to help finance the election. He confirmed no financial assistance coming from PBB and other BN parties.

It was true that PBB was there, but it operated separately with no connection with Masing. DCM Alfred Jabu went on his way after he had a spat with Masing over some Party symbols and posters. Awang Tengah was also own his own after he argued with Masing during a meeting in Sri Aman.

During the counting of votes, Jabu who was with CM in Kuching only phoned Awang Tengah for the latest results and not Masing, although Masing was the director of operations.

Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) “semadi” campaign, because in its heart of hearts it wished that PRS lost the seat so that its (SPDP) position in the BN would be strengthened while PRS position was weakened.

Even its president and deputy president did not attend the thanksgiving dinner as if they had no respect for the presence of deputy prime minister.

Anyway, we want to know how much money was spent on the thanksgiving dinner and why it was held in Kuching and not in Lubok Antu? Could it cost RM200,000 or more? Could it not be better to spend such money on a project that would bring direct benefit to the Batang Ai voters say on improving medical facilities as a way to say thank you? – The Broken Shield

News and Views

BTG AI BY-ELECTION: WHY WAS PKR DEFEATED?

It is obvious that the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is still riding on the wave of political tsunami in Kedah by winning the Bukit Selambau by-election with a bigger majority last Tuesday, but it failed to cause a wave in the Batang Ai by-election. Its candidate the former five-term Lubok Antu MP Jawah Gerang was soundly defeated. He secured 2,053 votes as against the BN candidate, Malcolm Mussen Lamoh of 3,907 votes.

Several factors have been attributed to the failure of Keadilan to take advantage of the seemingly dissatisfied 8,129 voters who have been shabbily treated by the BN State government – the broken promises, the unpaid claims, lack of land for farming and lack of infrastructural facilities.


Dayaks not ready to abandon BN

Theories are many attributing to the failure. But obviously, one of the main factors is that Dayaks are not ready to abandon the State Barisan Nasional, even although many of its policies are against their interests. Truthfully, many have indeed benefited from the BN polices. For example in this by-election, there are a number of instant “noodle” projects, the promises to look into their problems, to tar-seal their roads and to provide various health and recreational amenities as well as the financial assistance. Being simple-minded and trusting the BN to fulfill its promises, they therefore voted for the BN candidate.


BN polices are perceived as “fair”

These voters have also been told that the BN and chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s polices are "fair" in that some Dayaks and Dayak leaders have benefited from such policies; Dayak leaders in PBB like Alfred Jabu and Numpang whose wealth is perhaps at par with Leonard Linggi Jugah, the richest Dayak in Sarawak will surely cling like leeches on to Taib Mahmud.

And even in Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) itself there are leaders who have timber concessions, large tracts of land for oil palm plantation, school and government contracts. Naturally, these Dayak leaders are at the forefront of the campaigns trying to convince their fellow Dayaks to support Taib’s policies even for small minor rural development projects.

As the Dayak Iban community in Batang Ai is one of the poorest in Malaysia, these projects and promises are therefore very tempting; and hence how could they refuse such offer and abandon Barisan Nasional and Abdul Taib Mahmud?

But the Barisan Nasional must also remember that this was a by-election during which they promised heaven on earth. However, both the voters and PKR are watching whether the promises made will be fulfilled by the time the next state election comes in two year’s time or even sooner than expected.


PKR is considered an “outsider” party

Another reason for PKR’s failure to gain foothold in Sarawak’s rural areas is that the Dayaks especially the Ibans have been told to be wary of peninsular-based political parties. PKR is an “outsider” party, the party that does not respect the Iban customs. This issue has been highlighted in the recent by-election and so repeatedly reminded that the Ibans are skeptical with parties like Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and even UMNO spreading its wings into Sarawak.

The State BN knows that the Ibans have always been suspicious of peninsular people and telling them what happens in Sabah makes them more frightened. Sabah is now under the control of UMNO and everything that needs to be done must receive approval from UMNO headquarters. PKR under Anwar Ibrahim will be no different. The “yes Anwar no Taib” slogan was not effective enough to sway voters in the Batang Ai by-election.

The point was clearly emphasized by president of PRS and director of operations for the Batang Ai by-election James Masing who said the defeat of peninsular-based party, PKR in the by-election “is proof that it has no place in Sarawak”.

“This goes to show that Sarawakians want Sarawakians to be in control in Sarawak, not those outsiders. It showed we do not want PKR to come in.”

Again being multi-racial and “outsider-based” party, PKR has no answer to argue over the current political set-up of the State Barisan Nasional where all communities are represented by their respective communal parties that is considered by the State political leadership as the best assurance towards political stability and economic progress.


Racial-based party is still preferred

Thus they see in multi-racial parties like PKR and Sarawak National Party (SNAP) as not suitable as of now as the people are still conscious of racial-based parties. SNAP was once a very powerful Dayak-based party, and when it became multi-racial, it slowly lost its power and influence among the Dayaks.

The Dayaks’ frustrations in SNAP gave birth to a racially-based party, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) in July 1983. This belief still holds true till this day. Look at PBB which is representing the Malay/Melanau communities, SUPP the Chinese community and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) representing the rural communities. PRS was almost caught in trouble with some non-Dayak elements in the party. It is now slowly becoming a Dayak-based party.


PKR Sarawak: Bickering over the choice of candidate

The other contributing factor that needs mention is the continued internal bickering in PKR over the selection of the candidate for the by-election and carried over into the nine-day campaign period. Two groups with one supporting Jawah Gerang and the other Nicholas Bawin almost came to blows on the eve of nomination day. This heated argument in front of the unfriendly media became the main stories of the local papers and were being exploited by the BN to its advantage.

It was said that when Anwar came to Sarawak one week before nomination, he was supposed to announce that Bawin would be the candidate, because Bawin who had been a member of PKR had already prepared for the by-election since May 22, 2008 the day that the late Dublin Unting, the incumbent state assemblyman went into coma.

But the group supporting Jawah who recently joined PKR confronted Anwar and even threatened to resign from PKR if he did not accede to their demand. Anwar was more or less held to ransom had he not given in to their demand.

Meanwhile, Bawin’s supporters became angry and refused to campaign for Jawah. Even there were rumours to suggest that Bawin himself and his supporters campaigned for the Barisan candidate.

The unabated bickering had made the PKR preparations go haywire. Although Bawin was the director of operations, he was no where to be seen in the PKR operations. He was believed to have campaigned in Engkari and Lemanak. Thus, a coordinator of the election in the person of YB Dominique Ng was appointed.

Ng played down the open bickering amongst the party leaders and members and said: “The wrong choice of candidate was not an issue in the PKR camp because even if we fielded Bawin, the party would be defeated just as badly.”


PKR’s election workers were not paid

Grouses and grumblings among the PKR election workers were also heard that they had not been paid for their services and that no food was prepared for them. This is bad for PKR’s psychological warfare against the enemy.

Political observers see that voluntary services by the members for the party’s campaigns may be a good strategy in the peninsula, but in rural Sarawak it cannot be done this way due to many factors one of which is that the campaigners come from poor families.

There is also a need to buy petrol for their cars or outboard engines as they have to travel through difficult terrain, and poor road conditions or fast running water or rapids to reach vast and sparsely populated constituencies.

Few elected representatives and campaigners from Penang and Selangor who campaigned for the PKR candidate had visited the various longhouses and had some unpleasant experiences – the hazardous journey passing through difficult terrain, sleeping in the longhouses with little food and drinks. But such experiences will help them to understand Sarawak better.


"No money, no talk"

The other factor pointing to the failure of PKR was money. In Sarawak, money is still the most important tool of the election. Without it, you cannot win any election in Sarawak. You need it to charter boats and vans and pay workers for their food. You need to buy petrol, and even to buy votes. The Barisan Nasional is doing such a thing, sometimes very openly. And nobody can touch them. In Sarawak, Taib said: “I am the government.”

For any Sate election, PKR must realize that it is fighting not the politicians or political parties of the Barisan Nasional alone, but the entire government machinery – the State civil service, KEMAS (community development department), MIS (Malaysian Information Service), RTM, the council staff, teachers and community leaders.


The might of BN machinery

Logistically, the Barisan Nasional has superior assorts of political weapons such as the use of helicopters to fly ministers to campaign in any remote area unreachable by any other means. Several helicopters were used in this by-election.

For the Barisan, money was not a problem. In this by-election alone, it spent several millions of ringgit on travelling, lodging and accommodation expenses, not to mention the instant “noodle” projects that they promised the voters and money allegedly used to buy votes of between RM500 and RM1,000 per vote.

Compared with PKR, how could it match the machinery and the organizational skills of the Barisan Nasional? Just impossible, but then the local PKR, unlike the recent by-election, must organise itself with the limited funds available.


PKR must get organised NOW!

Thus, if PKR is seriously thinking of the next state election, it must begin its planning now, start to identify potential candidates and should look for funds. To unseat this state government, at least a sum of RM500,000 for each of 71 State constituencies is required, otherwise PKR should forget about contesting in Sarawak, let alone trying to change the State government. Rhetoric alone cannot help. Money is the name of the game.


Batang Ai – a litmus test for PKR

As mentioned previously, the Batang Ai is a major test for PKR in the Iban-dominated constituency. Winning here would mean the people and PKR are ready to change the government and losing would spell disaster. Although Ng said that the loss will not dampen the PKR fighting spirit, there are others who feel that the defeat here will have some impact on the next election.

Ng said: “We have in fact learnt one or two things from the campaign and this experience will be useful for future elections.” Certainly PKR has a lot to learn. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

News and Views

PKR committee to monitor BN's goodies in Batang Ai

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/102089

Lubok Antu PKR division will form a special committee tomorrow to keep track on development projects promised by the BN during the Batang Ai by-election.

The committee will be formed when Jawah Gerang, the defeated PKR candidate, holds a ‘thank you’ event at his longhouse in Sayat, Lubok Antu.

"This committee will monitor the projects and ensure that the BN keeps its promises to the people,” Jawah said today.BN leaders have promised about RM200 million worth of projects during the by-election.

The projects include RM2 million for the upgrading of longhouses, RM6 million for electrification programme, RM2.5 million for a telecommunication tower and community broadband centre, RM40.2 million for Universal Service Provision projects, R420,000 for minor rural projects, RM62 million for tar-sealing the seven-kilometer Lemanak Road, the survey and design of Lemanak-Engkari Road, and tar-sealing the 10km ring road in Batang Ai.

Apart from these projects, the government has also promised to settle unpaid claims as a result of the construction of Batang Ai hydro-electric dam and to issue land titles to the land owners.

Jawah said the Batang Ai people have been waiting for these promises to be fulfilled for the last 27 years.

This committee, he said, would ensure that these promises are fulfilled and projects delivered as soon as possible, otherwise the same promises and projects would be made again in the coming state election, expected in two years.


'We must work harder'

Jawah also pacified his supporters, asking them not to be disappointed with his defeat. “Instead, we should regroup and re-evaluate as this was the beginning of an interesting journey towards the Dewan Undangan Negeri 2011 when the state election will be called."We may lose the battle of Batang Ai, but not our spirit and our struggle," he said, adding that the recent defeat should spur them to work harder.

The five-term Lubok Antu MP lost to BN’s Malcolm Mussen Lamoh by a majority of 1854 votes. Jawah managed to secure only 2053 votes against his rival’s 3907 votes.Meanwhile, Mussen 49 will be sworn in as a member of the state legislative assembly when it sits on May 11.

The former engineer with the Sarawak Department of Agriculture is seen as a potential leader who will be able to further strengthen the position of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) in the BN.Mussen was the only candidate put up by PRS president James Masing for consideration by the BN top leadership.

The risk he took in fielding a political greenhorn paid off.Lately, PRS was seen as a party that has been bullied by Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu due to its weak leadership.

News and Views

1. Najib’s Cabinet

It is nothing surprised about Najib Tun Razak’s cabinet announced this afternoon. While Sabah is given a better deal, Sarawak remains the same with two (2) ministers and eight (8) deputy ministers.

We were hoping that one Dayak from either Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) or Sarawak Progressive Party (SPDP) should have been appointed to represent the Dayak community in the cabinet proper. The four deputy ministers – Joseph Salang (Information, culture, arts and communication), Jelaing Mersat (home ministry), Joseph Entulu (rural development and territories) and Jacob Sagan (international trade and industry) – are outside the cabinet and do not attend cabinet meetings. Who are going to articulate our interests?

It is true that Douglas Uggah Embas has been retained as a minister, but he is more representative of PBB’s interests than the Dayaks’ interests.

Once again the Dayak community has been let down both by the former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the newly appointed Prime Minister Najib.

Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud was reported to have said that there would be surprises for Sarawak. Now you know what surprise is there?


2. The picture tells the story

The picture of page 6 of The Borneo Post today (9 April) tells the story how happy were PBB boys with the electoral victory of Malcolm Mussen Lamoh on the Batang Ai by-election on 7 April.

Although Mussen was nominated by PRS to contest the Batang Ai by-election, there were no signs of PRS people celebrating his victory. The questions being asked are: Where were the PRS people? And why PBB people were seen celebrating the victory? Does this mean anything to the readers?


3. Time for BN to deliver the goods

After the by-election is over, the Barisan Nasional candidate, Malcolm Mussen Lamoh has won the by-election. His victory was achieved because of the promises made the Barisan to the people of Batang Ai. The promises to tar-seal the roads leading to their longhouses, the construction of a new road, the construction of communications and internet towers and centre, to pay the unpaid claims of properties as a result of the Batang Ai Dam, to give them an extra land for farming, to give them titles to their land and to supply them with electricity and water supply. The BN also must keep its promises to give RM1,000 more if their candidate won the by-election. RM500 had already been given.

The Ibans in the Batang Ai have been loyal to the Barisan and it is expected that the BN will be honouring their promises. However, the people and Parti Keadilan Rakyat are monitoring the fulfillment of these promises. The next state election is actually around the corner and the same issues will be raised again.


4. Recognise Dayaks as Dayaks

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) wants the ethnic races of Sabah to be known as Bumiputra Sabah and not “other races” in the federal government affairs and forms.

As Dayaks have no political party of their own, there is no one daring to speak on the interests of the Dayaks. Like PBS, our Dayak YBs should ask the federal government to recognize Dayaks as Dayaks and the word “Dayaks” should be written in the official forms and the federal government affairs instead of “lain-lain” (others).

The categories of races in most forms listed major races as the Malays, Indians, Chinese and other races.

There were occasions when Dayaks are not considered as Bumiputras and are therefore not entitled to privileges given to Bumiputras.- The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Latest news on the Batang Ai (Part 14)

1. Jawah’s message

The defeated candidate for Batang Ai Jawah Gerang today thanked all those who had supported him in the by-election.

“This is a temporary setback. Don’t despair. We may have lost the battle of Batang Ai (they stole it), but not the spirit and struggles.

“Dewan Undangan Negeri election in 2011 next will be pay back time. Regroup and revaluate. This is the beginning of an interesting journey,” he said.

The former five-term Lubok Antu MP was defeated by Malcolm Mussen by 1,854 votes majority. He secured 2,053 votes as against Mussen’s 3,907 votes.


2. Sarawakians want Sarawakians

Barisan Nasional Operations director for Batang Ai by-election James Masing said the defeat of peninsula-based Parti Keadilan Rakyat(PKR) in the by-election is proof that it has no place in Sarawak.

The Parti Rakyat Sarawak president said that the result also showed that blogs especially the anti-establishment ones had no impact on the voting trend in Batang Ai.

“This goes to show that Sarawakians want Sarawakians to be in control in Sarawak, not those outsiders. It shows that we don’t want PKR to come in. We in Sarawak do things our own way and we do not need outsiders to come here and tell us what to do,” he said.

Masing’s slogan “Sarawakians want Sarawakians” reminds me of Sarawak National Party’s famous saying “Sarawak for Sarawakians” in the 1974 State and parliamentary elections.

SNAP won 18 state seats (out of 48) and nine parliamentary seats, making it the strongest opposition party at the time. Today SNAP has no representative either in Parliament or in Dewan Undangan Negeri.

It would appear that Masing is against West Malaysians coming here to “tell us what to do” and yet he is silent about the presence of UMNO leaders in the by-election. Is this not double standard?

3. PKR’s loss due to money politics

Dominique Ng, election coordinator for Jawah Gerang, said that the loss suffered by Jawah and the party was due to money politics.

“PKR is not a sore loser. It is money politics,” he said and stressed that Dayaks in the rural areas still had a lost to do when it came to rejecting money politics.

“The wrong choice of candidate was not an issue in the PKR camp because even if we fielded Nicholas Bawin, the party would be defeated just as badly. The election had not been conducted in a fair manner,” he said.

One day before polling Sulaiman Taib (chief minister Abdul Taib’s son) flew to Lubok Antu to campaign. We were told he brought a lot of money in the helicopter. (Possibly several millions of ringgit)

Again four days before election, Masing was alleged to have received RM550,000 from one of his supreme council members who had school contract business.

On the night of polling we were at Ensawang longhouse and was told by the longhouse folk that each family was given RM30.00 per household and RM14.00 per voter. And the Tuai Rumah warned his villagers that anyone found to be voting for the Opposition would not be given any “goodie”.

In this election the Tuai Rumah was promised roofing materials and the supply of clean water which they had been waiting for 27 years. Last year they were extended electricity supply to the two longhouses.

Another unfulfilled promise is to maintain their road and to tar-seal it. The untar-sealed road is about four (4) km from Lubok Antu. Ensawang is part of the longhouse that was resettled down river after its original longhouse in the ‘ulu’ was flooded as a result of the Batang Ai dam. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com