BALINGIAN Yussibnosh Balo, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Balingian state by-election can breathe easy now.

The local making his political debut is at ease with the majority Malay-Melanau constituents, and some high-profile campaigners are helping to introduce him to the Iban and Chinese voters.

Federal ministers are also there on the ground for him, among them Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Douglas Uggah; Rural and Regional Development Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal; Works Minister Fadillah Yusof and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He is also in good hands in wooing the equally crucial votes from the 6,715 women constituents. Standing by him are Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim; Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri and Sarawak minister for welfare, women and family development Fatimah Abdullah.

The 48-year-old affable former Dalat district officer also had Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem braving the searing heat here for him in his straight fight with businessman Abdul Jalil Bujang, 55, of PKR.

The by-election has been necessitated by the resignation of Abdul Taib Mahmud as the elected representative when he stepped down as the chief minister at the end of February. Taib is now the governor.

New chief minister Adenan ( left ), having been in the state's highest administrative office for almost a month now, is fast proving to be the crowd's favourite with his straight-talking demeanour and, at times, wickedly risque sense of humour.

The BN's target to garner a majority of 6,000 or more votes seems to be within grasp now. Taib had won the seat in the 2011 state elections with a 5,154-vote majority.

The Balingian seat has 13,366 registered voters, of whom 7,7059 (57.6 per cent) are Melanau-Malay; 3,875 (29 per cent), Iban and 1,683 (12.6 per cent), Chinese. There are 6,651 men and 6,715 women voters.

Most of the Melanau-Malay voters are known to be staunch BN supporters but there are issues among the Ibans from the 78 longhouses.

A nasty wound is the feeling that they have been paid minimal attention by ministers and their elected representatives over the last 20 to 30 years.

Adenan, when visiting one of the longhouses, Rh Kumbong, in Ulu Bedangan, promised to heal that wound.

"As the new boss (chief minister), I will insist on all elected representatives visiting each area in their constituency at least once a year to deliver minor rural projects. If not, I will give them a piece of my mind," he said.

NCR again a thorn in the flesh

The issue of native customary rights (NCR) land is again a thorn in the flesh for the BN. PKR enjoys an advantage with leading NCR land dispute lawyer Baru Bian, the Ba'Kelalan state assemblyperson, in his element on this issue.

In giving the people an assurance, Adenan said he would get the Land and Survey Department to help them, especially in their disputes with oil palm plantation and timber concessionaire owners and to help them determine their NCR land.

"The Ibans here are suspicious of the perimeter survey exercise of the government probably due to their ignorance. They prefer the individual lot survey which they believe will allow them to get the individual land title faster," remarked a BN election campaigner.

It was a first-round victory for the Ibans when a government plan to locate a huge rubbish dump near 22 longhouses in Matadang here was cancelled.

Clean water is still a rare commodity for the more interior folks.

Mohd Shafie Apdal ( left ), in his walkabouts, said his ministry had allocated RM60 million to bring treated water supply to Balingian between 2010 and 2015.

Yussibnosh received a favour from Press Metal Berhad chief executive officer Paul Koon Poh Keong who helped debunk the oft-repeated claim that his RM1-billion aluminium smelting plant here polluted the environment.

Koon said his plant used the latest green technology and its emission was closely monitored by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the state government.

"Our emission is monitored online by the DoE while external auditors will come every three month for checking. We cannot run, we cannot hide if we foul up," he added.

"It is a matter of perception that our plant is the culprit, especially when those concerned do not know the technology we use. They compare ours with those in certain European countries and Russia where some plants still rely on technology that is 20 or 30 years old," he explained.

Koon reasoned that Dubai in the United Arab Emirates had a big smelting plant right in the city itself and its two million people feared nothing.

Muhyiddin, during his campaign, brought happiness to parents of school-going children in Balingian and Mukah when he announced a RM60-million allocation to build the first secondary school in Balingian and a RM19-million aid to rebuild the primary SK Kampung Tellian.

- Bernama