The Sarawak National Party (Snap) is fielding a 'prominent leader' from the Lun Bawang community to contest in the Sept 18 Ba'Kelalan by-election.

Its secretary-general Edmund Stanley Jugol remained tightlipped on the identity of the candidate but said he was respected by the local community.

"I cannot tell you who he is for some people would start to pester him the minute your story is published. You know, he will be approached (to withdraw).

"Between now and nomination tomorrow is still a very long time and a lot of things could happen," he told malaysiakini .

However, Jugol neither confirmed nor denied if the candidate could be former Bukit MAS parliamentarian Mutang Tagal.

Mutang is the brother of the late Ba'Kelalan incumbent Dr Judson Tagal, who died in a helicopter crash on July 12.

'Badly split'

On the voters, Jugol said they are anticipating not more than 60 percent of the electorate to turn up on polling day given the fact that it is a rural area.

Realising the possibility of seeing several Independent candidates in the race, he said the voting pattern would be difficult to predict.

"Votes would be badly split but we don't know to whose advantage," he added.

Reports on the ground have likened the situation in Ba'Kelalan to the Meluan state constituency in 2001, where grassroots supporters openly expressed dismay with the Barisan Nasional (BN) for retaining the incumbent, Geman Itam.

Although Snap, which was then a BN component party, agreed to switch the candidate, Sarawak Chief Minister and state BN head Abdul Taib Mahmud insisted that the incumbent be retained after a last-minute visit to the area.

As a result, the incumbent, the late Geman Itam lost to relatively unknown Independent candidate Wong Judat.

Choice accepted

Meanwhile, BN's preparation for the Ba'Kelalan by-election entered high gear today.

"We will have our men stationed in every nook and corner of Ba'Kelalan. We will make sure that there is a personal touch in our campaign," said Sarawak People's Democratic Party (SPDP) president William Mawan.

He is also confident that there would be "no enemy from within" as speculation is rife that there is widespread dissent over the selection of Nelson Balang as the BN candidate.

However, Mawan claimed that many have accepted the choice after listening to the reasons behind it.

"When it comes to the final decision on the candidate, we cannot be penny wise, pound foolish," he stressed.

Balang was the former private secretary of the late Ba'Kelalan incumbent who won the seat uncontested in 2001.

JIMMY TEOH is malaysiakini 's Sarawak-based stringer.