The Election Commission has set-up a polling station in Punan Biow, located in the Hulu Rajang parliamentary constituency. This polling station is credited with being the remotest in Sarawak.

"Despite being remotely located, we have to set up a polling station in Punan Biow to enable people there to cast their votes," its returning officer Jonathan Lugoh told Bernama . He said Punan Biow had only 70 voters, most of them Penans.

"We will ensure that they are able to choose their elected representative, for that we will send a helicopter to ferry the votes from the polling station there to the vote-counting centre in Kapit," he added.

In the 2001 state election, EC had a bitter experience in the area when the only registered voter in Long Luar, in the Belaga state legislative constituency which also comes under Hulu Rajang, failed to appear when the commission's mobile squad arrived via a helicopter.

The team left after waiting for one hour, without the vote. The operation cost them nearly RM70,000.

"This time, we have asked this lone voter to cast his vote at the nearest polling station - Punan Biow, as EC no longer opens up a polling station in Long Luar in this election," said assistant returning officer Tom Hen Mijod.

Hulu Rajang

sees a straight fight between BN/PBDS candidate and incumbent Abit Joo @ Billy Abit Joo taking on Snap's Bendindang Manjah.

Crocodile attack

In another development, the wife of Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu was forced to neglect her election work for a more pressing cause - to look for a crocodile attack victim in Sungai Layar, Betong.

"We spent half a night looking for boats to search for John anak Jenang,15, who was believed to have been attacked by a crocodile while on a fishing trip with his two brothers," said Empiang Jabu.

Relating the experience, she said since the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has built an extensive network of roads in the area, boats are hard to come by.

Transportation in the area, unlike before, was mainly by road, she added.

This morning, Betong district police chief Abdul Talip Borhan said rescue workers have recovered the victim's right thigh.

Embiang has been assigned to handle election-related problems at the BN operations centre in Betong. Her husband is the state assemblyperson for Layar which falls under the Betong parliamentary constituency.

However, the coming polls will only see a contest for the parliamentary seats in Sarawak as its state legislative assembly's term only expires in 2006.