The Bintulu airport is dangerously unique. It lies precariously right in the heart of the town, sandwiched by two rows of shops on one side and the towns only highway on the other.
It is said to be the only airport in the world built in the town centre. Happily, no aviation accidents had ever occurred there despite its location. One would have been catastrophic.
Bintulu was in the limelight again in recent days. No, not for another oil or gas discovery, which the district is well known for, but that of a political nature.
Like the Bintulu airport, the parliamentary seat of Bintulu is both unique and precarious. In the Barisan Nasional arrangement, the constituency belongs to three component parties.
The Sarawak National Party (Snap) holds the parliamentary seat while the two state seats within the constituency, Tanjong Kidurong and Kemena, belong to the Sarawak United Peoples Party (Supp) and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) respectively.
In such a unique set-up, and often described as confusing by BN people, it is thus not surprising that political back-stabbing reign among the BN grassroots in the district. This has principally led to Bintulu becoming an opposition bastion.
Ultimatum given
In the 1995 general election, even Snap president James Wong Kim Min could not win Bintulu for the BN. It fell to the DAP.
A year later, BN also lost Tanjong Kidurong to the DAP in the state election. Although it took back the seat in a subsequent by-election in 1997 following an election court order, the BN lost it again in last years state election.
Thus, Bintulu has somewhat become an embarrassment for the Sarawak BN. Before the 1999 general election, Snap was believed to have been given an ultimatum by the state BN leadership to wrest back the Bintulu seat or else it would be given to another component party.
That makes sense. If one party is not strong enough to win, then it should forfeit its right to contest. No party likes to lose a seat, least of all the ruling BN coalition.
Snap is also the weakest link in the state BN. From being a party at the helm of Sarawaks first post-independence government, internal conflicts over the years had reduced Snap to the most junior position in the state government.
In the Sarawak BN seat quota, Snap has only four parliamentary seats (Bintulu is one) out of 28 and seven state seats out of 62. A PBB leader once joked privately that it makes no difference whether Snap is in or out of the BN. That sounds more of a fact to me than a joke, though.
When the 1999 general election neared, Snap was desperately looking for a suitable candidate in Bintulu. It is believed that the party has not serviced the constituency since its president was defeated there in 1995. Its branch office in the town was hardly functioning. The candidate chosen would have to rebuild Snap in Bintulu from scratch.
Rich politician
Along came a young and aspiring politician, Tiong King Sing. He was an unknown quantity in Sarawak political circles but he has one important credential he has money, lots of it, as was widely perceived at that time when the lobbying to be the BN candidate for Bintulu started.
The young Tiong (only in his 30s) was said to have made his fortunes in the peninsula and overseas. His mentor is none other than Ting Pek Khiing, the Sarawak timber baron famed for his feat in building a Langkawi hotel in 80 days as well as for his failure to build the Bakun Dam, among others.
The young millionaire was also a new datuk, having been awarded the title from one of the sultans.
Well, a young, rich datuk any struggling political party would welcome one into its fold. Snap certainly did and Bintulu was eventually presented to Tiong on a silver platter by the party.
After winning Bintulu in the 1999 November elections, Tiong was also appointed treasurer-general of Snap.
Strangely, the positions of Bintulu MP and Snap treasurer-general appear to be jinxed. The previous holder of both posts, Ting Ling Kiew, suffered huge business losses and political setback before he finally retired from both.
After his defeat in Bintulu, James Wong was also said to be under great financial stress. It is widely known in Snap circles that the party president has been facing great difficulty in financing the party in recent years. His eldest son, Richard Wong, is still fighting a RM4 million suit brought against him by a Japanese company.
The treasurer-generals post has also seen many holders coming and going. Many former treasurer-generals of the party quit soon after they realised that holding the post also meant helping to finance the party. It has become a much dreaded position in Snap.
Centre of a storm
Tiong King Sing is now the man in the centre of another major crisis looming in Sarawaks second oldest party.
Last month, he was removed as treasurer-general. Last week, he was sacked by the party.
Whatever reasons given for the course of action against the Bintulu MP, I feel inclined to think the real issue is all about the capital M money.
Surely, Tiong is not so nave as not to know why he was given the Bintulu seat in 1999 and appointed treasurer-general of the party. Had he been an ordinary mortal and not a young, rich datuk, did he think that Snap would have paid attention to him at all?
Of course, besides looking after Bintulu and keeping Snap flag flying there, Tiong was also expected to help finance the party. When he failed to live up to this expectation, the problems started.
James Wong reasoned that Tiong was sacked because the MP had breached the partys constitution but did not provide details. This is laughable. I am sure that had Tiong been willing to resolve all of Snaps financial woes, everything would have been settled.
I only met Tiong once since he entered the political scene. From the one chat we had about Sarawak politics, the young Bintulu MP struck me as more polished in business than in politics.
I was not surprised when told by his Snap colleagues later that Tiong was an independent-minded person whose main political priority was to service and look after his own constituency. Financing Snap in a big way was not on his agenda.
There is nothing wrong with that. Even some ministers had been accused of paying more attention to their own constituency than their ministerial duties, let alone an ordinary MP.
Senile leader
That may be selfish but then again, name one politician in this country whether in the government or opposition, who is not selfish as far as protecting ones own seat is concerned. It is unfair to fault Tiong on this front as he is just one of them.
Tiongs problems with the Snaps top leadership brought to light one glaring fact party president James Wong is losing the support and respect of many of his key party leaders.
All, except one, of the partys elected representatives, three MPs and five state assembly representatives, walked out of the partys meeting which decided to sack its Bintulu MP. The only one who stayed behind was Wongs son, Richard, who is the state assembly representative for Limbang.
Then deputy president Peter Tinggom, a long-time friend and ally of James Wong, also walked out in protest, it seems to indicate the beginning of the end of Wongs tenure at the helm of Snap. Sadly for the party, the 80-year-old president remained senile to this fact.
Can Snap afford another major crisis? That is the big question facing the party today.
FRANCIS SIAH is a former Sarawak newspaper editor and now a columnist for several publications. He is also former secretary general of the State Reform Party, Sarawak (Star).
This is the first part of an article on the political crisis in Snap. The concluding Part 2
will appear tomorrow.