S'WAK POLLS The long-running 1MDB scandal and the mysterious deposits into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts have been a source of anger among many Malaysians.
However, in Sarawak’s rural heartlands, amid the buzz of the ongoing state election campaigning, these issues are nothing compared with the immediacy of poor infrastructures, land disputes and other issues facing locals.
One Kenyah village chief hailing from the Telang Usan constituency said his village is likely to vote in favour of PKR candidate Roland Engan.
He is unsure of what to make of the 1MDB and donation scandals - with the allegations and rebuttals being thrown back and forth - although they cast doubts over the quality of leadership in the federal government.
“It is hard to figure out what is true,” the village chief said, speaking on condition that he not be named.
Ultimately, he said, the votes from his village would be decided by the disputes over land issues, and the now-cancelled Baram Dam project that the villagers have fought against for years.
Meanwhile, a plantation worker met at the Bakong area in the Marudi constituency told Malaysiakini that she would be voting for PKR’s candidate Elia Bit, solely out of spite for BN not nominating the incumbent Sylvester Entri Muran as candidate.
“Sylvester Entri built a lot of roads, brought water and electricity. That’s why we support him,” the 51-year-old said.
Only water from rain
Her longhouse is one of few that has piped water facilities installed, whereas most longhouses in Marudi rely on a government-provided rainwater harvesting (photo) and filtration system for clean water.
The system would be installed just outside the longhouse, and villagers would have to venture out with buckets and other containers to collect their water supply.
Asked about the 1MDB issue, she said she has heard of it through television news reports, but does not understand the issue.
According to a survey conducted in January, pollster Merdeka Center found that Sarawakians ranked economic issues high on the list of things needing attention from the state government, followed by development and infrastructure issues.
These are the very same issues that the Marudi PKR candidate Elia been pressing on, aside from trying to draw support from Sylvester’s supporters.
Elia said the 1MDB issue is too complicated for the village folk to understand, and furthermore, not everyone in the area is politically aware in the first place.
In addition, she pointed out that what little the villagers know about 1MDB comes from government-controlled media.
“The people don’t really know about 1MDB,” she told Malaysiakini in an interview.
“You’d have to talk about things that they see and feel every day.
“Take the goods and services tax (GST) for example. If you look at PKR’s pamphlets, they show (pictures of) toothbrush, soap and Milo. These things, they can understand.
“If you talk about 1MDB, Najib, and the RM2.6 billion, they are not really interested in them.”
Among the highlights of her campaign are the achievements made under the PKR-led Selangor government, such as free bus services, free piped water for the poor and various scholarships, grants and welfare aid schemes.
In contrast, Elia pointed out that Sarawak is a far richer state than Selangor, and poses to voters the question where Sarawak’s wealth has gone.
Development matters
Nevertheless, it would still be an over-generalisation to dismiss rural Sarawakians as being ignorant of the 1MDB issue.
When met at a longhouse near Marudi town, a farmer in the constituency was even able to recount some of the developments that had taken place in the scandal.
However, he dismissed the issue as “the government’s problem”.
Also speaking on the condition that he not be named, the farmer said he has yet to decide whom to vote on polling day this Saturday, but made it abundantly clear that it is development that he has in mind when he puts his mark on the ballot paper.
“It comes down to which problem you want to solve,” he said.
“To get to the village up the hill from here, there are big rocks in the way. To get to the school (in the other direction), the roads are strewn with rocks too.
“I want more schools. I want clean water. I want smooth roads,” he told Malaysiakini.
According to the household income and basic amenities survey 2014 of the Department of Statistics, 10.7 percent of rural Sarawak households live more than nine kilometres from a government primary school, and more than half (51.2 percent) live more than nine kilometres from a government secondary school.
Only 61.6 percent have access to piped water, while 1.8 percent obtain water from public water stands.
A whopping 36.6 rely on “other” water sources, and in this respect is behind only Kelantan (44.6 percent) and Sabah (43.4 percent).
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