The Selangor government's work for the Orang Asli can play a pivotal role in promoting Pakatan Rakyat in rural constituencies in the Sarawak election. So says Rawang state assembly representative Gan Pei Nei.

Gan, who has been campaigning for PKR candidates Peter Ato and Willie Mongin in two Bidayuh-dominated constituencies, Tarat and Bengoh , said, "We had a meeting with the local leaders in the Bidayuh community. The spirit is there, they see there is a need for change.

"This is especially so when we talk about how the Selangor government is doing work for the indigenous communities. We are gazetting the land for them, providing basic infrastructure and giving them land titles."

NONE Pakatan, she says, can show a different model of government to indigenous communities in Sarawak. Most political commentators feel rural Sarawakian communities can never imagine a government that is not BN.

But Gan ( right ) argues that many Bidayuh have been receptive to her message, and agree with her that the Selangor government's approach is one they want the next Sarawak government to adopt.

"They say they will bring out the message and share it with the people of the community. We have to outreach, go down to them and talk with them, and ask them to use their votes to make a change for their own community," she added.

Awareness of NCR growing

Gan estimates that 20-30 percent of the villagers in Bengoh, over an hour's drive from Kuching, have been directly affected by the Native Customary Rights (NCR) land issue.

A giant dam , built in Bengoh by Sinohydro and owned by Naim Cendera, is uprooting four villages, Kampung Rejoi, Kampung Sait, Kampung Bojong Pain and Kampung Semban. The resettlement has led to two NCR lawsuits filed against the state government.

Since the chairman of the Naim Cendera conglomerate is Hamed Sepawi, cousin to chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, misgivings over conflicts of interest and corruption have inevitably arisen.

The Bengoh dam contract awarded to Naim Cendera amounted to RM310 million, but the subcontract to Sinohydro cost only RM145 million - delivering an instant profit of RM165 million to Naim Cendera.

Although conventional wisdom dictates that rural villagers are unable to grasp concepts of good governance and accountability, it is clear that most villagers there understand who is profiting from this mammoth dam, and why.

NONE It is also obvious that the local communities have felt the impact of the quarry that is a source of materials for the dam, as well as the logging of the flooded area, and the loss of their farmland and fruit trees to the megaproject.

"When I talked about NCR, everyone seemed to know about it," Gan said. "Even when I went around, going into shops, and from house to house, some Bidayuh people came forward to us to get our brochures, because they wanted to go back and share the information with their people.

"Obviously, they now feel their land is in (a dire) situation, they saw the logging going on, they were really affected, so not much explanation needed to be done."

Spreading the message

Beyond Bengoh, Gan pointed out some of the obstacles in spreading the message about NCR, and the relative successes of the new government in Selangor, including the recognition of Orang Asli rights to land, as exemplified by the Sagong Tasi court case.

Gan has noticed that some PKR flags and publicity materials have been torn down in her adopted constituencies.

"Clearly, sabotage is going on... but our people went and lodged reports, and their spirits are still high," she said.

"Our candidate for Tarat held a ‘ceramah' in his kampung, in a longhouse, but the Election Commission (EC) and the police stopped him. They said he had no permit for the activity. But this is private property, they shouldn't be coming in to stop them... it is their right to speak."

'Land issues affect all Sarawakians'

The PKR assemblyperson said she had found land issues to be crucial in a rural Chinese farming village, Tapah, where she held a ‘ceramah'.

NONE "We collected RM300 plus (in donations), but of course, that community is not so rich. Their land was also taken by a Taib Mahmud (linked) company to build a housing project, and the farmers have been chased to some other place."

According to Gan, land issues affect all Sarawakians.

She adds: "When I went to a Bidayuh community, I told them the local Chinese too were facing the same problem. It is not because of (discriminating) a certain ethnic (group), it's because we're facing the same government, a very corrupt government.

"In Selangor, before we changed (government), we were facing a similar highly corrupted government, taking people's land, using taxpayers' money for their cronies. We are waiting for a bigger change in Sarawak."

 

 

 

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - ‘anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia’ . This weekly column is an effort to provide a voice for marginalised Malaysians. Keruah Usit can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com