VIEWPOINT: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party’s selection of candidate for the Meluan seat is now the focal point of discussion among members and supporters of Barisan Nasional in the constituency.
Teacher Roland Duat, quantity surveyor Belayong Jampong and former executive with oil and gas company Elly Lawai Ngelai are lobbying to be the candidate.
All the three have been told to go to the ground, and the evaluation reports on each of them are expected to be discussed soon by the party leadership.
Each of these three has his own strengths and weaknesses.
Roland, for example, has the advantage of being a teacher in the interior and knows the problems facing the rural population.
He is very popular with the Ulu people, especially when he is the first cousin of former Meluan assemblyman Geman Itam, who had represented the constituency between 1983 and 1996 under the Sarawak National Party ticket.
In rural politics, relatives are an important factor; the more relatives you have the better the chances of winning the contest.
For Belayong, he has the support of MP for Julau Joseph Salang. The state constituencies of Meluan and Pakan form the parliamentary seat of Julau. But support from Salang could be a liability to Belayong due to the people’s “dissatisfaction” with Salang.
Salang, the Ulu folk of Julau claim, has allegedly failed to honour a number of promises made to them like the Ng. Entabai-Rantau Limau and Ng. Entabai-Pakan-Engkamop road projects and a clinic.
These projects should serve more than 50 longhouses.
The promises to build the 28km Ng. Entabai-Rantau Limau worth RM43 million and the 14km Ng. Entabai-Pakan-Engkamop worth RM40 million were made much earlier.
The pledges were renewed by Salang in March 2013 just before the parliamentary election.
Until today the projects have not got off the ground despite two earth-breaking ceremonies.
It was due to the alleged failure of Salang to implement the projects that had resulted in the bitter quarrel between current Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat and Salang.
The quarrel apparently prompted Wong Judat to resign from SPDP to challenge Salang in GE13.
Belayong’s failed mini-hydro projects in Julau could also become an election issue.
Between Elly and Belayong, Elly may have a better chance of winning the seat based on the support of longhouse chiefs.
While Belayong comes from downriver Julau, Elly comes from the interior of Julau where the people still practise riverine politics.
At a recent meeting in Bintangor, about 140 longhouse chiefs demanded that the BN leadership go to the ground and listen to the people’s preference.
According to Tuai Rumah (TR) Micheal Lutaw, TR Engkulau and TR Bujak and few other longhouse chiefs, this was necessary as the chances of winning the seat depends on the people’s choice.
“We are urging SPDP president Tiong King Sing and Chief Minister Adenan Satem to hear the voices of the people before deciding who the winnable candidate for Meluan is.
“There are so many issues that the opposition is going to use to attack the BN candidate, that is why we must select a strong and popular candidate to ensure Meluan still belongs to the BN,” they said in a joint statement.
They said that as of now, there are no fewer than three individuals lobbying for the seat.
“We know very well each and every one of them – their personality, character and leadership. We know their strengths and weaknesses.
“Young generations now are looking at the qualities of the candidate and not the party or BN symbol anymore. We don’t want to make another big mistake again by voting for a wrong wakil rakyat.
“People in Meluan are looking for a good quality wakil rakyat to catch up with the other districts in terms of physical and socio-economic developments.”
All they are asking is for the top party and BN leadership to hear the voices of the majority on the ground and not base their decision on pressure from certain people or groups of people who harbour personal political interest.
“These groups of people are small in number compared to the total number of voters. The least the BN leadership could do before making the final decision is to allow us to explain what the rakyat want,” they said.
According to a local political observer, the message from the longhouse chiefs to the BN leadership is very clear – that a wrong candidate could cause the loss of the seat.
The support from the 140 longhouse chiefs is extremely important. Assuming that if each of the village chiefs is to bring about 40 to 50 voters from his longhouse, that means their preferred candidate has already had about 5,000 to 6,500 votes in the bag.
This excludes the fence sitters.
The Meluan constituency has about 13,000 voters.
After the meeting, the longhouse chiefs have communicated with the SPDP and BN leadership of their choice of candidate.
It is understood their choice is Elly Lawai.
When contacted by The Ant Daily, Elly said: “I am ready to represent the Meluan people.
“I know it is not an easy job, especially to get the support from the younger voters. But I am very optimistic by the support that I received from the grassroots during our meet-the-people functions.”
Meanwhile, PKR has named engineer Semana Sawing as its candidate. Semana hails from the Ulu area where there are no roads, electricity and clean water supply.-The Ant Daily
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Vote 4 ROLLAND DUAT as a Meluan candidate..