PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak) president Dr James Masing refuses to be drawn into speculation that Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has rejected a Malcolm Mossen, his party’s sole recommendation as the BN candidate for the Batang Ai by-election on April 7.

james masing Instead, Masing was more focused on pushing his “Dayak Unity” theme for Batang Ai which is expected to see PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) fielding a Dayak candidate in the overwhelmingly Iban state seat. The seat fell vacant following the demise of PRS vice-president Dublin Unting on Feb 24.

Taib has now apparently asked for a revised list with more than one name for his consideration.

Earlier, Masing had left the decision on the candidacy to Taib, also the State BN chief, according to his comments in the local media. Taib may have hesitated since his deputy, Alfred Jabu, also submitted a letter at the same time as Masing, recommending one name for Batang Ai, it is learnt.

Jawah Gerang or Nicholas Bawin?

PRS supreme council member Tedewin Ngumbang opines that if Mossen is eventually confirmed as expected, PKR is likely to field ex-Lubok Antu MP Jawah Gerang who has been linked with the former PRS deputy president Sng Chee Hua’s faction in his old party led by his son Larry Sng, now a partyless assistant minister in the Taib cabinet.

“The ex-MP will be seen as the ‘perfect opponent’ for all reasons peculiar to Batang Ai where relations, past liaison, family ties, pedigree etc will be the main consideration,” said Ngumbang, seen by his own party leadership as a fence-sitter, despite open professions of his loyalty to Masing.

batang air state seat 240209 “If Nelson Naga Alam, Unting’s private secretary and nephew, is the PRS/BN candidate, then Nicholas Bawin would be the perfect match from the PKR side.”

The recent appointment of Bawin as the chief co-ordinator for the Batang Ai by-election “adds to Ngumbang’s belief” that Gerang would be the PKR candidate. Bawin was the losing candidate, by 800-odd votes, to Unting in the 2006 state election.

It is not known whether Masing’s revised list to Taib will include other party hopefuls mentioned in the past including Unting’s niece Anchon Raoh, 46, an unknown favoured by PRS secretary-general Wilfred Nissom who was close to Unting. Nissom is a Bidayuh from Singgai, Bau.

“Not having a ‘record’ (clean slate) can be an advantage,” Nissom had conceded when Raoh’s name was first mentioned. “Besides, we don’t have a woman in our present line-up in the state assembly and Parliament.”

The fear among PRS leaders is that a revised list of BN candidates for Batang Ai will give Jabu “a golden opportunity” to push his idea that PBB (Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) should “loan” a candidate to PRS. The name often mentioned is Lubok Antu district officer Nelson Mujah Giri, a brother of federal minister and senior PBB vice-president Douglas Uggah. The idea is to ask Mujah “to join PRS” and then name him as the candidate for Batang Ai for the BN. Mujah, an Iban from Betong, has since been appointed the returning officer for Batang Ai.

Jabu has “bulldozed” through his “loan” candidates in the past to other BN component parties despite charges of “PBB bullying”. Lubok Antu MP William Nyallu and Sri Aman MP Mesir Kujat, both from PBB, are “on loan” to PRS.

“By the way I look at it, ex-MP Gerang will not be standing in this by-election,” commented local political analyst Uchu Keling on the speculated rejection of Masing’s list. He expects a good fight since “the punters are ready”.

“I think it will be Mossen vs An Unknown.”

'Dayak Unity' theme

Meanwhile, Masing is pushing for “Dayak Unity” in Batang Ai with the idea that “if PKR wins, it will put the Iban and Batang Ai in the backwaters. PKR is not the government even if they win Batang Ai. That’s practical politics.”

sarawak breakdown in state seat 131108 “We don’t want the Iban of Batang Ai to suffer for the next three years for Anwar Ibrahim’s sake,” said Masing. “We don’t want them to suffer the fate of the people in Permatang Pauh (Anwar’s seat).”

His remarks are echoed by Nissom who thinks that the Dayaks should resist being influenced to contest against a Dayak candidate put up by a Dayak-based party such as PRS instead of lamenting about the lack of Dayak unity”.

Masing concedes that there is “a great deal of unhappiness with PRS/BN in Batang Ai” but nevertheless expects majority support on polling day. “Even in Baleh, not all are happy, but we won the seat,” pointed out Masing on his seat.

Masing however would welcome an opposition challenge in Batang Ai “if they and their blogger friends field a non-Dayak candidate”. The seat is 95 per cent Dayak.

Unresolved problems in Batang Ai include compensation payments to those asked to make way for the Batang Ai dam and similar problems in the on-going Bakun dam area, a spillover issue, problems of illiteracy, the high school dropout rate and grinding poverty, PBB “bullying” the other component parties of BN into submission, apparently a favourite tactic to circumvent the BN’s reportedly time-honoured seat and power-sharing formula, and questions over the legal status of NCR land which the state government has not hesitated to gazette as state land before awarding them to big plantation development companies.

BN can afford to lose Batang Ai but the question is whether the ruling coalition can afford to lose the Dayaks?

The loss of Batang Ai is expected to lead to greater pressure on Masing to merge his party with SPDP (Sarawak People’s Democratic Party), a Dayak-based offshoot of Snap (Sarawak National Party) which is now in opposition.

PRS was formed when PBDS (Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak) was deregistered after a prolonged leadership struggle but has since only managed to gather less than 20,000 of the mother party’s well over 100,000 members. Besides, the party has split into two factions, the other faction led by Larry Sng who still claims to be the rightful PRS president.