Seven men died when a helicopter crashed in northern Sarawak. Among the dead was an assistant minister in the state government. It was a regrettable accident, with high ranking officials having died with him.

The media in Peninsular Malaysia, which all but ignores events in Sabah and Sarawak, pulled out all stops to report the search in excruciating detail. In fact, more space was given to the crash than any event in the two states in the past two decades. Yet, the reporters continued naming the wrong woman as the widow of one of the dead men, even after the mistake was pointed out.

So, what was the coverage so extensive and even intrusive? It had to do with local politics. There has been an unmentioned revolution by stealth in the state National Front (BN) coalition: the Melanau community, forming six percent of the state's population, is now in total political control of the coalition and the state.

Its leader is of course the chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud. When the federal agriculture minister, Effendi Norwawi, resigned, he was succeeded by a Melanau, albeit a Christian, Dr Leo Michael Toyad. It is a Melanau, Muslim or Christian, who succeeds best in Sarawak politics.

This is so well consolidated, with Umno kept out of it, that the other largely Iban and other native tribes band forces to challenge the Melanau. No one talks about this in public, but the political undercurrents point to newer leaders pushing for a better political accommodation for them.

This explains why Dr Judson Tagal, the assistant minister who died in the helicopter crash, was so important to this realignment. His death deprived one leader in this push for the realignment of the politically disadvantaged tribes.

The newspapers in the peninsula went along with this, for it is a federal desire to clip the wings of the Melanau in Sarawak. They believe their older leaders were more interested in their political position than the needs of the communities they represented.