The unsuccessful Sarawak National Party (Snap) candidate Liman Sujang said today he is considering a filing election petition to declare the Selangau parliamentary constituency election results null and void.

'It depends, among other things, on the outcome of police investigations into reports filed by some voters on alleged vote-buying,' said Liman, an Iban lawyer who resigned at the eleventh hour from Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) to contest Sunday's general election on a Snap ticket.

He lost by a margin of 3,616 votes to the Barisan Nasional (BN)-PBDS candidate Joseph Entulu, an assistant state minister that Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is now recommending for a federal appointment.

Liman, who had objected to Entulu being chosen as the BN candidate and decided at the last minute to stand against him on an opposition ticket, claimed that vote buying was prevalent, especially in the last two to three days before the polls.

"Everybody knew what was going on," he claimed, adding that "... we were even alerted by the police about it."

According to him, four persons were caught red-handed distributing cash to residents of longhouses and were handed over to the police for investigations.

Liman said his election petition would only be filed after the election results had been gazetted by the government and after he had gathered sufficient evidence to annul the result.

BN machinery

In Sunday's polls, the Sarawak BN did not concede a single parliamentary seat in either Dayak, Malay or mixed areas in the state. The only defeat it suffered for the 22 contested seats was in the predominantly-Chinese seat of Bandar Kuching.

Political analysts say the BN or dacing (weighing scales) symbol has a 'strong, magnetic influence' in rural and coastal Sarawak. "They want roads, water supply, electricity, bridges, schools, clinics, etc and see BN as the only party able to deliver these," they added.

In the urban areas, however, the Chinese electorate, particularly in Bandar Kuching and to a certain extent Sibu, have shown that they are not afraid to translate their grievances into votes for the opposition.

For Liman and other independent and opposition candidates from DAP, Keadilan, PAS and the State Reform Party (Star), the challenge was more than fighting BN and its dacing symbol but also dealing with the enormity of BN's electoral machinery, including the use of facilities enjoyed by government leaders when campaigning.