SARAWAK LIVE: Tasik Biru

The end is near for Tasik Biru incumbent Peter Nansian

ELECTION TALK: Tasik Biru incumbent Peter Nansian is going under, and knowing the end is near, is taking the last few shots back – more out of reflex action than a dying man’s wish to take his rival along with him.

The battle to convince the BN leadership has been many long days and nights, it certainly looks like it has taken a heavy toll on Nansian, who has completely lost the support of all four component parties of BN despite his fervent pronouncements and public declarations that he is a BN man.

“I am still part of a strong BN team,”Nansian was quoted as saying after he took pot shots at Harry Henry Jinep, accusing his potential political nemesis of “talking like an opposition” and “criticising Barisan Nasional government”.

Needless to say, Henry would be the last person in Tasik Biru to be criticising BN, although the Sarawak Progressive Party (SPDP)’s Tasik Biru flag-bearer has every reason to criticise Nansian’s below par performance of the last 20 years and his RM300 million development plan that he wants to implement in the next five years when he had 20 years to do that.

No, Henry did not criticise BN; he directed his criticism at Nansian, and because Nansian believes in his own little lie that he is a BN man, he thinks criticising him is criticising BN.

Nansian is an assistant minister, so he has been going round Tasik Biru telling folk that he is a member of BN. The fact is he works for BN.

Anybody can work for BN, and coincidentally, the state BN is very accommodating of outsiders, which is why we also see people like William Mawan, Wong Soon Koh and Dr Jerip Susil working for BN. But that does not make them BN members.

Because they are working for BN, they can actually say they belong to the BN team. But they are still not BN members because one has to be a member of a BN component party to be a member of BN.

If you are a registered member of any one of the four state BN component parties namely, Parti Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP and Sarawak progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) then you are a BN member.

If you belong to any other parties, like Nansian is deputy president of Teras, you are not a member of BN even though you are an assistant minister which makes you are a part of the BN team – just like Nansian is.

Unfortunately, most, if not all of these gentlemen who get to be part of the BN team, think that working for the BN makes them a BN member and that when they are criticised, they are quick to deflect criticisms to BN.

That’s what is happening in Tasik Biru. When Henry questioned Nansian regarding his below par performance in the last 20 years, which the incumbent hopes to make up for with a RM300 million development plan in the next five years, Nansian accused Henry of criticising BN.

To Nansian it’s like, you criticise him means you criticise BN because he works for BN; you criticise him for a failed project, you criticise BN; you criticise him for failing to help accommodate the Malay community in the local government, you criticise the BN.

How childish!

And very sad, actually, because that’s when BN gets the blame when someone tasked with a job to do fails to deliver and says, “Don’t blame me, blame the boss.”

Or rather, “Why blame me, go and tell the leadership if you dare!”

Well, it has been many long days and dragging nights, there have been lots of political activities, debates and revelations in Tasik Biru that have not been in favour of Nansian.

If the BN leadership wasn’t aware of all these before, they surely know now because of all the debates and revelations.

The crowds are getting thinner, and all Nasian has are the familiar faces of loyalists who call themselves community leaders but don’t speak for the community they are supposed to serve.

Few now listen to Nansian’s speeches; fewer still believe in his RM300 million development plan.

Villagers no longer come in hordes to his meet-the-leader events; local BN leaders just don’t come at all.

It’s a completely different picture in the Henry camp. Not only are the crowds getting bigger, but all of Tasik Biru’s powerful warlords who once were Nansian’s allies are supporting Henry.

For a man who has been in power for 20 years and seeing this power no longer powerful, it is easy to understand why Nansian wants very much to pit Henry with the BN leadership by accusing the latter of criticising BN.

BN is PBB, PRS, SUPP and SPDP, Henry can’t be criticising BN when he is BN’s choice for Tasik Biru.

The political storm in Tasik Biru is causing a massive flood of support for Henry, Nansian is grabbing at straws but he knows he is going under.-The Ant Daily

Why they prefer Henry Jinep over Nansian in Tasik Biru

ELECTION TALK: In the race for the Tasik Biru candidacy, folks, especially the Bidayuh who make up more than 90% of the votes, are impressed by Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)’s new prospect, Henry Harry Jinep.

Henry, who has entered the fray with the full blessing of all four state Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), SarawaK United People’s Party (SUPP) and SPDP, is a big hit among both kampung folk and the business community.

Since his introduction as the BN candidate on Feb 6 by SPDP secretary-general Anthony Nogeh Gumbek, Henry has become the one popular topic among folks in the villages and towns.

Inevitable, people compare and contrast, and by all accounts, Henry beats his rival, Tasik Biru incumbent Peter Nansian, like the hare that outran the tortoise – only this hare doesn’t rest to take a nap to give the tortoise the chance to steal his way to the finish line.

Henry, who has made it good in the corporate world, outruns Nansian all the way in the popularity race – and he is not stopping – because he stands for the new generation of Bidayuhs who want a piece of the cake that older players selfishly guard.

At just 48, Henry is an icon to a community known for its commitment to the future of their children to whom they give the best that education can offer.

Undoubtedly, Henry plays his cards well, making his millions in the construction sector and giving back to society in the process.

Today he is synonymous with Yayasan John Jinep, the first charity foundation solely for the Bidayuh, by a Bidayuh to provide financial aid, bursaries, grants, scholarships and loans to needy Bidayuh students who want to further their studies up to tertiary level.

The foundation was registered on 8 Dec 2014 with an initial fund of RM1 million deposited in Amanah Raya Berhad on 21 Sept 2015.

While he continues to receive accolades for his excellent business acumen – his company, Putra Sentosa Enterprise, won the Malaysian Construction Industry Excellence Awards Contractor Grade 6 for three consecutive years – his long list of beneficiaries continues to grow.

He has helped with building and repairing village churches – Mt Singai Church (RM382,000), Batu Gong (RM80,000) and Kampung Stungkor Lama (RM120,000) – and community halls.

He donated to masjids and suraus, PTAs and alumni of schools, NGOs like Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) and Redeems, and civil and youth movements.

He has to date given out well over RM2 million of his own money towards this social endeavour of his, not so much to win over the hearts and minds of the people but more to ease their pains and facilitate their progress.

Henry did not enrich himself by depriving the people of their only wealth – land.

He did not buy the people’s land at dirt price and sell this to the companies at a fortune.

He never approached the poor Bidayuhs waving notes of all colours and tempted them into departing with their land because he knows this would only give them temporary relief but has every potential to confine them to life-long poverty.

Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality that many in Tasik Biru are face today.

Henry also did nothing like collecting money from potential Bidayuh investors in projects that promised the moon and the stars but never saw the light of day.

For all the things that he rightly did and did not do, Henry comes into the Tasik Biru candidacy race bearing a personal integrity that’s hard to match by any measure – or rival suitor.

Integrity is no burden, in fact in any political race it actually makes for speed, which is why Henry is running with the light-footedness of a young buck.

To his supporters, who have been packing community halls and sun tents wherever he went, if he could do what he had done as just Henry, as their next assemblyman he is capable of doing more than the RM300 million worth of projects pledged by Nansian for the constituency’s development blueprint over the next five.

While SPDP described Nansian’s pledge as “an extremely extravagant promise” that’s not only unrealistic but an attempt at fishing for sympathy, Henry’s supporters think the incumbent assemblyman should have done that long ago and not wait until he has been in office for 20 years and approaching the tail end of his political career.

They are not going to fall for Nansian’s rouse. Not when Henry makes a better option.

Mega projects and mega developments in Tasik Biru, if and when they come, will not be by Nansian but by Henry.

The Tasik Biru electorate, including the already high number of Bidayuh families who have lost their land to wealthy politicians and speculators, are looking to Henry to bring back a sense of pride to their community that now must compete with none of the assurance of solid ground under their feet.

To them, Nansian has got his chances and he has failed – miserably.-THE ANT DAILY

Jangan salah guna geran kerajaan

Penerima perlu manfaat peruntukan ikut tujuan dalam permohonan

BAU: Ahli Parlimen Mas Gading, Anthony Nogeh Gumbek semalam menyampaikan geran projek kecil luar bandar (MRP) bernilai RM445,000 kepada 29 penerima bagi kawasan Tasik Biru.

Penerima terdiri daripada pelbagai persatuan, pertubuhan serta jawatankuasa kerja kampung, gereja, masjid, surau, tokong termasuk sekolah jenis kebangsaan Cina.

Dalam ucapan ringkasnya, Nogeh menasihatkan penerima supaya mengguna geran berkenaan bagi tujuan seperti dipohon dalam borang permohonan.

Sebagai contoh katanya, jika permohonan bagi tujuan menaik taraf dewan maka geran itu harus diguna bagi tujuan yang sama, bukan sebaliknya.

Pada masa sama beliau turut mengingatkan penerima geran supaya membuat laporan mengenai projek yang telah dilaksanakan menggunakan geran tersebut bagi tujuan audit.

“Geran ini menunjukkan keprihatinan kerajaan terhadap rakyat dan ia harus diguna sebaiknya oleh rakyat bagi tujuan pembangunan.

“Saya tidak mahu mendengar yang salah guna geran kerajaan untuk kepentingan peribadi,” katanya pada penyampaian cek geran MRP di Pejabat Daerah Bau di sini.

Tambah Nogeh, setakat ini beliau telah mengagihkan keseluruhan peruntukan kepada beliau secara adil kepada semua penerima di bawah Parlimen Mas Gading yang terdiri daripada Tasik Biru dan Opar.

Malah katanya, peruntukan disampaikan kepada 29 penerima semalam merupakan peruntukan tambahan diberikan khas kepada beliau untuk diagih kepada rakyat di Tasik Biru.

Dalam perkembangan lain, Nogeh juga Timbalan Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani mengajak orang ramai terutama penduduk Mas Gading sama-sama memeriahkan Karninal Mas Gading pada hari ini di Pekan Bau.

Karnival julung kalinya ini menurut Nogeh diadakan sempena sambutan Hari Peladang, Penternak dan Nelayan Peringkat Kebangsaan yang berlangsung pada November ini di Kota Samarahan.

Pada karnival itu, pelbagai agensi di bawah kementeriannya membuka tapak pameran yang menerangkan mengenai peranan masing-masing kepada golongan penternak, peladang dan nelayan termasuk penduduk setempat.

Bagi memeriahkan lagi karnival itu, turut diadakan pameran dan jualan pelbagai jenis produk pertanian yang terdapat di negeri ini kepada orang ramai dan pengunjung.-Utusan Borneo