Justice Ian HC Chin, sitting as election judge in the Bukit Begunan election petition case, viewed bribery and vote-buying during elections as no wheel of fortune, but a wheel that crushed virtues, espoused vices and spawned untold problems. The election was declared void.

The learned judge made special mention of the voters who had come forward to testify in the case. "It is fortunate that the voters in this case... had broken themselves free from this chain (wheel of fate chaining voters) and came to court to testify for they have realised that this is no wheel of fortune."

The petitioner in the case was Donald Lawan, an independent candidate who sought to declare the election void. The said election had returned the respondent in the case, Mong ak Dagang, a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Bukit Begunan (N22) state assembly seat in the 1996 Sarawak state election.

Under the Election Offences Act, 1954, an Election Court may declare an election void upon a finding that general bribery or other misconduct has "so extensively prevailed that they may reasonably be supposed to have affected the result of the election". If we remember the Likas phantom voter case, this is not a requirement in relation to the conduct or management of an election.

The petition cited two distinct places where bribery had taken place. One was in Lachau on Sept 5 and the other at a longhouse called Rumah Engkramut on Sept 6. The court held that proof in one incident of bribery is sufficient to dispose of the case.