Sarawak: SUPP's loss is DAP's gain

Sunday, May 21, 2006
SUPP's loss is DAP's gain

Analysis by Suhaini Aznam
The Star

The Sarawak state elections saw a thumping victory for the dominant Malay-Melanau party, the Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB).

What was disconcerting was the tremendous slide in fortune for the Barisan Nasional’s second-most senior party, the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).

As the results tumbled in, the initial euphoria of making headway in the comfortable seats shifted to moderate concern at the beatings that the SUPP was taking in the Chinese areas. The party was ravaged in eight of the 19 seats.

Chief Minister and PBB chief Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud brushed aside the SUPP fiasco at a press conference later by saying: “We look into the causes later.”

The SUPP has lost not just face but its strong footing in the state government and seniority in the state coalition.

A few of its state ministers were dumped at the ballot box.

Party president Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam had won, but with only half the margin he enjoyed in 2001 in his Piasau seat.

Urban issues picked up by the DAP were the extension of land lease titles, the petrol price hike and a land issue in Stutong, in Kuching Selatan involving alleged abuse of power.

Its losses reflected the SUPP’s own internal political squabbling.

In Sibu, former federal minister of environment, science and technology, Tan Sri Law Hieng Ding, is still bitter that Chan had not fought for his continuance in the federal capital.

The Dayak seats were less easy to read.

The new Parti Rakyat Sarawak had lost the contentious seat of Ngemah to its incumbent assemblyman Gabriel Adit anak Demong, running on an independent ticket.

It also won Belaga defeating the incumbent Stanley Ajang Batok, also an independent.

“It was my first outing (as president of the PRS) and I had wanted a perfect score,” said Datuk Seri Dr James Jemut Masing. “Instead I lost one seat.”

Independents fare well in Sarawak and Sabah and history has shown that those who win, carry premium value.

The candidates for Ngemah and Belaga were until only recently still in Barisan. They were not fielded again simply because their seats had been allocated to the PRS, whereas they had opted to join the rival, predominantly Dayak party within the coalition, the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

The irony of Barisan's rejection by townsfolk was not lost on coalition leaders. “I think we have to re-strategise our development programmes,” said Masing.

The biggest blessing for Sarawak rests in the PBB itself. “For as long as the PBB does well, Umno will not disturb the rest of us,” said Masing. “Since PBB is Malay, and Umno is Malay, Umno will not try to come to Sarawak.