MIRI: Another five-year term for the Marudi incumbent would mean ‘death’ for the people in the constituency.
In saying this, a longhouse chief (TR) Benang Pilang of Bakong, claimed they had suffered long enough, all 20 years, under the leadership of Datuk Sylvester Entri since 1996.
“Twenty years is enough for him, we want him replaced with a new representative who is able to lead us fairly and without prejudice. We believe if he were given another term to rule, he would ‘kill us for good’. So no more another term for him please,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
During his 20-year term as the people’s elected representative in Marudi, Entri has replaced all the councillors from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) in Marudi District Council with his own men.
“If that is not enough, he then came up with another evil deed – replacing the longhouse chieftains in the constituency, including Benang, whom he assumed was not supporting him. When he realised that his term as the longhouse chief was not renewed, Benang became suspicious and immediately went to the Marudi District Office to ask, only to get a cold reply from the officer on-duty: “Tanya YB Sylvester” (just ask from YB Sylvester). Benang believed the officer at the district office was telling the truth.
“Is this what a wakil rakyat should do? Is this what we get for voting for him?” Other longhouse chiefs facing similar fate also enquired at the district office, and received the same reply.
Another longhouse chief met yesterday, TR Mohsin Randi of Tinjar, for one, said many individuals appointed as the longhouse chiefs for certain longhouses were not accepted by their charges, which resulted in the longhouses breaking apart.
“One good example is at Sungai Mallang where there are now seven longhouses,” he said.
According to Mohsin, only one longhouse in Bakong remained intact until today – the longhouse belonging to Datu Dr Penguang Manggil the SPDP potential candidate for Marudi.
Penguang and another resident Datu Dr Ngenang Janggu the permanent secretary to the Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture have always advised the residents to stay united and live in peace together. Thus their longhouse is intact.
“The breaking-up of longhouse is the consequence of Entri’s nasty politics of divide and rule,” Benang and Mohsin claimed in response to Pemanca Enggah’s statement in the newspaper yesterday. They also claimed that Entri only gave grants and projects only to his supporters in certain longhouses that were in favour of him. - Borneo Post.
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