Even though the Sarawak state election is nearly two years away, Harrison Ngau Laing, a possible candidate for the Telang Usan constituency, is already firing away at incumbent Lihan Jok.

The PKR politician has accused the PBB leader of being 'hopeless and useless'.

bn supreme council mt meeting sapp sabah issue 190608 taib mahmud "How will he defend our rights when more senior leaders themselves are ignored by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and other state leaders?" he asked.

Writing a series of articles in the Dayak Baru blog, Harrison also described Lihan as a Barisan Nasional/PBB 'fighting cock'.

"Voting for him in the coming election means supporting BN/PBB and Taib Mahmud to create more problems and injustices for the people in the next five years," he said.

On the issue of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land, Harrison said he was helping many Ibans in Suai, Niah and Bintulu where NCR land was allocated to them by the Brookes and the British governments in the 1930s and 1940s.

"The communal boundaries of their customary land have been demarcated and recorded by in a map called 'Composite Plan showing distribution of Natives' farming lands in Suai, Niah and Sibuti' which is still kept in the office of Land and Surveys department in Miri.

"Why did the government give away NCR land to the big companies?" he asked.

Ask any staff in the Land and Survey Department why the land was given, Harrison said,the reply would be 'instruction from the political masters in Kuching'.

Working hard on the ground

The former Baram MP has been working hard in the Telang Usan constituency since he joined Sarawak PKR with a view to contest the Orang Ulu constituency of about 13,000 voters.

And as a lawyer and chairperson of Sarawak PKR's environment bureau, he had offered his services to help the native communities fight against timber and oil palm companies that encroached into their NCR land.

Previously he was noted for his anti-logging activities, leading blockades by the indigenous people against timber operations in the Baram area.

As a result of these activities, he was put under house arrest for almost two years beginning from October 1987 and spent 60 days under the Internal Security Act.

Using the Goldman Prize money he received, Harrison stood as an independent candidate for the Baram parliamentary seat in 1990 and defeated the BN/Snap candidate and deputy minister of works Luhat Wan.

Later he joined Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) to continue his fight. In the 1995 election, he resigned from PBDS and contested the same seat on a Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) ticket. He was defeated.

Now after an absence from active politics for several years, Harrison has made a come-back through PKR. But will he contest?

"If he does, he is going to pose a threat to Lihan who has suddenly become very unpopular after he made suggestion in May this year to change the term 'Orang Ulu' because of its connotation with backwardness to 'Lun Daya'," said a source.