• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Formidable battle expected in Batang Ai

March 15, 2009

KUCHING, 15 March 2009: With nomination day for the Batang Ai state by-election barely a week away, the Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) is expected to be bracing for a formidable battle with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to retain the Iban majority seat.

Poster and flag wars aside, one factor that would affect the BN’s performance is the choice of candidate, as the voters are likely to be more inclined to support an Iban candidate from a Dayak-based party. Ibans account for 95% of the 8,006 registered voters in this constituency.

Based on the trends of previous state elections, the majority of the voters in this 1,341 sq km rural constituency bordering the Indonesian province of Kalimantan were influenced by “family ties” rather than party symbol in casting their votes.

Yesterday, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Datuk Seri Dr James Masing said the state BN had agreed to nominate Malcolm Mussen Lamoh, 49, an engineer with the state agriculture department, as the candidate pending approval from the national BN leadership.

The Batang Ai seat fell vacant on 24 Feb, after the death of four-term incumbent Datuk Dublin Unting Ingkot due to a stroke. He was PRS vice-president and state assistant minister for sports and agriculture.

While Masing has been appointed BN director of operations for the by-election on 7 April, a political observer felt the BN machinery needed to be more focused on its campaign strategy to counter the anticipated opposition onslaught.

PKR has yet to name its candidate for the by-election. However, with its national leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Sarawak PKR liaison chief, it has been trying to woo voters by raising issues such as native customary rights land, Dayak rights and socio-economic development issues.

In concurring with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement that the BN would do away with the practice of announcing “instant noodle” projects during elections, a political observer said it was more beneficial to organise community programmes or sessions to meet the voters face-to-face.

He suggested that more high-impact programmes, aimed at solving problems related to development and community welfare, should instead be expedited in the area.

Some of the constituency’s 107 localities, comprising 238 longhouses and 15 villages, such as Engkari, are remote.

Nonetheless, he said the state government’s plan, which includes giving priority to tar-seal the 10km Batang Ai settlement area ring road and two other roads at a cost of RM42 million, would be most welcomed by the people as it was long overdue.

The political observer said it was also pertinent that the BN candidate was accepted by the locals.

He added that the poster war and distribution of pamphlets to explain issues and government policies could play a role in portraying the position of the state BN, particularly as it would be a test of the ruling coalition’s solidarity.

In the May 2006 state polls, when Dublin narrowly beat Nicholas Bawin Anggat of Sarawak National Party by 806 votes, it was said that his reduced majority was due to protest votes by some BN supporters, who were allegedly unhappy with the way the BN machinery was run.

It was believed that personal attacks levelled at the incumbent, as well as the PRS leadership crisis, could have also affected Dublin’s majority, contrary to speculation that Bawin, then the pro-tem president of the unregistered Malaysian Dayak Congress, was an influential figure in Batang Ai.

This time around, the talk is that the PKR candidate could either be Bawin, who is currently the PKR Batang Ai chairperson, or former five-term Lubok Antu Member of Parliament Jawah Gerang, who recently joined PKR. — Bernama

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anwar Ibrahim, Barisan Nasional, Batang Ai, Dayak, Iban, Jawah Gerang, Nicholas Bawin Anggat, Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Sarawak

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph