Even though the Batang Ai constituency has been a Barisan Nasional stronghold for decades, its leaders both in Kuching and Kuala Lumpur are getting jittery over the prospect of losing it come polling day on April 7.

“We know that we are having difficulties in Bukit Selambau (Kedah) and Bukit Gantang (Perak) and we cannot afford to lose the Batang Ai by-election,” said a supreme council member of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).

Losing the three by-elections will not only be an embarrassment, but also a bad start for Najib Razak who will take over as Malaysia’s sixth prime minister early next month.

Political observers believed that the three by-elections are being called simultaneously to allow BN to claim a face-saving win in at least one seat - the most likely being Batang Ai (Sarawak).

“The fight for the 8,006 voters (in Batang Ai) is not just a fight between PRS and PKR; rather it is the fight between Najib and (Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim,” said a PRS member.

That explains why some state leaders who are concerned over the prospect of losing the seat are determined to win the by-election at all costs.

Deputy Chief Minister and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) deputy president Alfred Jabu declared: “Batang Ai must be retained as a BN fortress. Don’t let PKR win here.”

He warned that there would be political turmoil if PKR won.

james jemut masing Meanwhile, PRS leader James Masing expressed confidence that his party is capable of defending Batang Ai, a seat which he said his party has won since 1983.

“I do not enter a fight to lose,” said Masing, who is Sarawak’s land development minister.

His colleague from PBB, Mohd Naroden Majais, concurred. BN, he said, was not afraid of the opposition in the by-election.

BN’s most formidable weapon

However, Masing was not exactly right in stating that Batang Ai has always been a PRS seat.

batang ai state seat past results 110309 It was only when PBDS was deregistered in 2004 that the seat was inherited by PRS.

In the 2006 state election, the PRS candidate, the late Dublin Unting held on to Batang Ai by defeating Nicholas Bawin - an independent-turn-PKR leader - by 806 votes.

Since its formation in October 2004 - the day PBDS was deregistered - PRS has projected itself as a multiracial party.

In fighting this by-election however, Masing is portraying PRS as a Dayak-based party, but many of Batang Ai voters who have remained loyal to the defunct PBDS may remember his role in contributing to the party being deregistered.

“This is the main worry of BN,” said a PRS supreme council member .

He however added that PRS is expected to play its strongest suit, which includes utilising the state civil service, community leaders especially the ‘tuai rumah’ (village chiefs) as well as the state-owned RTM.

Adding to the advantage of BN is its ability to promise development projects and its almost unlimited financial resources.

It is said that BN is prepared to spend some RM20 million to win over the hearts and minds of the majority Iban voters in Batang Ai. All the ruling coalition needs is to get the backing of some 4,000 voters to emerge victorious in this contest.