Top leader endorses Bawin as PKR choice

PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim’s special representative for Sarawak Jeffrey Kitingan is in favour of Nicholas Bawin Anggat, the Lubuk Antu division chairman, to take on the BN in Batang Ai.

“I have studied the matter in great detail and consulted with people on the ground,” said Kitingan, who is also PKR vice-president and the party’s deputy chief in Sabah.

However, Kitingan is leaving the final decision to his party boss, Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar heads PKR in both Sabah and Sarawak which have since emerged as the party’s frontline states in the struggle to seize the reins of power in Putrajaya.

Bawin ( left ) himself claimed that he knows who will be the candidate for Batang Ai but is keeping mum. “Let the PKR headquarters make the announcement at a suitable time,” he said.

Kitingan stressed that Bawin, despite all the negative reports on him, will be the best man to challenge Malcolm Mussen Lamoh, 49, selected yesterday by Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud as the BN candidate for the by-election.

“Bawin may not have won in his previous outings but there are reasons for this including shortage of funds, the logistics involved and electoral fraud,” said Kitingan.

“Bawin is hard-working, he knows the territory well and has been increasingly getting more and more support in Batang Ai over the years. He almost beat the late Dublin (Unting) in the last state election. Only the lack of campaign funds prevented him from clinching victory.”

Kitingan: Bawin’s rival Jawah can wait

Former Lubuk Antu MP Jawah Gerang, also tipped to stand in Batang Ai by his supporters in PKR, will most probably be fielded in the nearby Engkilili seat in the next state election, according to Kitingan.

“Between the two of them, Bawin and Jawah, the latter can wait.”

He denies that Bawin has the edge in the party’s selection process because of Jawah’s close links with former PRS deputy president Sng Chee Hwa, who was reportedly instrumental in efforts to wreck his former party and also Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) – where he was senior vice-president, which has since been deregistered.

This is a view shared by former Baram MP Harrison Ngau Laing, 49, who joined PKR last December after a two-year courtship.

“Even Leo Moggie, when he was PBDS president, warned everybody against Sng,” disclosed Laing.

Laing, an ex-ISA detainee, is also active in the environmental movement in Sarawak, and in his words, “needs permission to leave the country as I am in List P – a security watchlist - of the Immigration Department.”

Another point against Jawah’s candidacy in Batang Ai is BN’s Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) leader James Masing’s oft-repeated charges that the PKR man is responsible for the still unresolved problem of compensation to those affected by the building of the Batang Ai dam.

Masing is not immune either since he has been linked with problems over compensation issues in Bakun, which is expected to feature in the Batang Ai campaign as well, and unhappiness over the state government’s approach to the takeover of NCR (native customary rights) land, among others.

“We will be sending some native ex-landowners to Batang Ai to give their personal testimonials on how big business and the state government work together to seize NCR land for themselves,” warned Laing.

However, PRS supreme council member Tedewin Ngumbang Datu, who moves closely with Sarawak PKR leaders and members, begs to differ with Kitingan.

He thinks PKR is likely to field Jawah.

“The ex-MP will be seen as the ‘perfect opponent’ for all reasons peculiar to Batang Ai where relations, past liaison, family ties, pedigree, etc, will be the main consideration,” reiterated Ngumbang, seen by his own party leadership as a fence-sitter, despite open professions of his loyalty to Masing.

PRS names Mussen as BN candidate

Ngumbang also hints at Jawah’s strong links with Sng, who has reportedly been lobbying Anwar for the former MP’s candidacy in Batang Ai.

Both Sng and Jawah left PRS together although Sng’s son, Larry, remains in Taib’s cabinet as a partyless assistant minister and claims to be “the real president of PRS”.

Larry is married to the only daughter of construction magnate, Ting Pek King, who is closely connected with the Taib family and newly-appointed senator and dark horse in the power game, Effendi Norwawi.

One point in favour of the opposition is that the Sarawak BN is divided among themselves on the Batang Ai candidacy with PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) finding itself isolated on the issue and at loggerheads with the other three BN component parties - PRS, SPDP (Sarawak People’s Democratic Party) and Supp (Sarawak United People’s Party), which apparently took a rare united stand against oft-repeated charges of “PBB bullying”.

Mussen was nominated by PRS as the sole candidate by party chief Masing who, contrary to earlier reports, reportedly refused to re-submit a revised list with more than one name as demanded by Taib.

The ailing chief minister, in a huff, refused to announce the name at a press conference and stalked out after reminding Masing starkly that BN chief and outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had yet to endorse his candidate.

Masing ( right ), undeterred by Taib’s reminder, proceeded to announce at a delayed press conference that Mussen was the BN candidate for Batang Ai.

Abdullah disclosed last night on national TV that he had yet to receive any recommendation for Batang Ai and complained that he - not Masing or Taib - was supposed to make the official announcement on the candidate.

This is believed to be the first time that Masing has crossed swords with Taib in public on an important party matter and suggests that the chief minister may be finally losing his grip on the Sarawak situation as the economy takes a worst than expected tumble in the face of government inaction and a continued state of denial.

"I think Mussen is the best candidate to win the by-election," a confident Masing told reporters after the State BN supreme council meeting at the PBB headquarters yesterday. “He is a well-educated, hardworking and helpful person. He is also a humble man.”

Masing added the party had chosen Mussen, an engineer with the state Agriculture Department, from among several potential candidates.

Apparently, the late father of the aspiring BN candidate was a very influential headman in Engkilili, the state seat next to Batang Ai, both in the Lubuk Antu parliamentary constituency.

Mussen is not a member of PRS, only a sympathiser, and is expected to join the party after resigning from the state government next week.

PM to make official announcement

Meanwhile, it is learnt from reliable PBB sources that Taib will be forwarding a name, perhaps names, to Abdullah for his consideration and the official announcement is likely to be made tomorrow by the outgoing prime minister.

The fear among PRS leaders is that Taib’s recommendation to Abdullah will give Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Numpang “a golden last chance” to push his idea that PBB should “loan” a candidate to PRS despite such moves compromising and circumventing the of-cited and time-honoured BN concept of power-sharing.

Insiders say that Jabu sat sullen-faced, saying very little, during the State BN supreme council meeting, reportedly prompting Taib to remark: “Fred, manah meeting sehari tu nadai maioh jaku. (Fred, it is good to have a meeting today with little discussions).”

The name often mentioned by Jabu is Lubuk Antu district officer Nelson Mujah Giri, a brother of federal minister and senior PBB vice-president Douglas Uggah.

The idea is to ask Mujah “to join PRS” and then name him as the candidate for Batang Ai for the BN. Mujah, an Iban from Betong, has since been appointed the returning officer for Batang Ai.

Jabu has “bulldozed” through his “loan” candidates in the past to other BN component parties despite charges of “PBB bullying”. Lubuk Antu MP William Nyallu and Sri Aman MP Mesir Kujat, both from PBB, are “on loan” to PRS.

Should a candidate other than Mussen be announced by Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, the state BN machinery will be off to a rocky start in Batang Ai.

However, PBB members and leaders in the area are confident of the coalition clinching victory.