PSB’s Baru Bian (left) and GPS’ Sam Laya are seen to be the two main contenders for Ba’kelalan.
COMMENT: Voters in Ba’kelalan had voted twice against Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state elections and all eyes are on whether they will make it thrice in a row.
They showed the coalition the door in 2011 when the state was led by Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and again in 2016 when the late Pehin Sri Tan Sri Adenan Satem was the chief minister.
The Ba’kelalan incumbent Baru Bian was elected on the PKR ticket in the two elections and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which was formed by Sarawak BN parties after the collapse of the coalition in the 14th general election in 2018, is itching to send him packing.
Baru is now defending the seat on the Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), which appears to be GPS biggest threat this election. He is a presidential council member of the party headed by former second finance minister, Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh.
GPS is fielding a new face in Progressive Democratic Party’s (PDP) Sam Laya, a lawyer from Long Sukang, and who is believed to have a fighting chance against Baru in the five-cornered tussle for the seat.
The other contenders are PKR’s Martin Labo, Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s Peter Asut and independent candidate Agnes Padan, who had recently quit PKR. Baru, Agnes and Martin are relatives from the same village, Long Semadoh.
In the last two elections, Baru had faced straight fights against the same BN candidate, Willie Liau, who is from PDP.
In 2011, Baru won with a majority of 473 votes after he polled 2,505 votes, and in 2016, he garnered 2,858 votes to increase the majority to 538 votes.
The previous incumbent was PDP secretary general Datuk Nelson Balang Rining, who defeated Baru in the 2004 and 2006 polls when he stood as an independent candidate and as a candidate of the defunct Sarawak National Party respectively.
In trying to win back the seat, GPS has told voters in Ba’kelalan that it is now time for change as the seat lacked development and lost out in Minor Rural Project and Rural Transformation Programme to the tune of RM100 million in government grants in the past 10 years.
It has also drawn up a masterplan for the constituency. The construction of the first phase of Sarawak-Sabah Link Road project from Lawas to Long Luping has already started and plans are ready to continue this stretch all the way to Ba’kelalan at the border with Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Yet, it is still a slippery and tricky slope to climb for the GPS new face. His camp is optimistic that a slim victory is within reach but some pundits think it is a tall order, considering Sam’s eleventh hour confirmation as GPS candidate over Libat Langub, who many had thought would be picked.
Libat, who is Baru’s uncle, has a big extended family in Ba’Kelalan and many found it a hard pill to swallow when he was dropped. The unhappy supporters could spell trouble for GPS.
One of Baru’s strong points has been his part in the church in the deeply religious community of Ba’Kelalan. Born in Long Luping to a poor family whose parents were both pastors of the Borneo Evangelical Mission church, he is also a church elder.
The controversy surrounding attempts to ban the use of the word Allah by Christians still hold sway in the community.
Baru is further backed by his track record as an activist lawyer fighting for Native Customary Rights and this resonates with local concern that the state government was re-attempting to gazette land as forest reserves over native land.
After becoming the first Lun Bawang to be appointed Minister of Works after winning in the predominantly Iban seat of Selangau in the last general election, Baru’s star is shining even brighter as many see him as possible chief minister (CM) following PSB’s affirmation that it will endorse a Dayak CM if the party has the community’s support.
He was previously also touted as a CM candidate by his former party PKR in the last election.
It would be a fine antidote to his hero to zero political slump in a matter of 22 months after he refused to go with the flow and sacrificed the opportunity of having a cabinet post after the Sheraton move which toppled the Pakatan Harapan government last year.
from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/33BLMjr
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