Opposition parties have often cited Sarawak’s geography and demography as major challenges when campaigning in the state considered as a BN fortress.

For 28-year-old Elia Bit, the prospective PKR candidate for the Marudi state seat, she is adding a cocktail of sexism, racism and minor ‘assault’ to the list.

Sexist and racist remarks were allegedly made against her campaign team during a visit to a longhouse last month.

According to Elia's campaign assistant Bujang Gama, the headman of a longhouse had allegedly insulted Elia ( photo ), who is a Penan by descent.

"I brought along Elia's calendar (a campaign handout), and the headman pointed at it and said, 'Why should I support her? Penan women are cheap; I have slept with many of them.'.

"This is extremely insulting," Bujang told Malaysiakini .

He said approximately one-third of voters in Marudi are from the indigenous Penan group.

Bujang also claimed that he was slapped at the back of his head by the headman on their visit to the longhouse on Feb 18.

"The headman demanded we pay RM500 if we were to stay overnight at the longhouse," he alleged.

The three-men campaign team immediately left the longhouse and lodged a report at the Long Lama police station two days later.

Missing details

Bujang, however, did not include the sexist or racist remarks directed at Elia in the report he lodged.

"He feared that putting the details in the police report would degrade me," said Elia, who is also a native rights activist with the Malaysian Indigenous Peoples’ Network, or Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Joas).

"I felt insulted and threatened. Uncle Bujang said the headman tore my calendar and he felt that the man would slap me too if I were there," she said.

The young aspiring candidate said she and her team have given the headman one month to issue a public apology. The deadline has since passed without an apology.

"Bujang lodged another report on Tuesday to urge the police to act as the headman has failed to apologise," she said, adding they are consulting their lawyer for follow-up action.

A police officer, who spoke with Malaysiakini on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the report lodged by Elia's assistant.

"I have been very busy. But I will call both of them to see (if the headman is willing) to apologise (to Bujang)," he said.

He, however, said the headman didn't ‘tampar’ (hit) Bujang, but only ‘tepuk’ (pat) the back of his head, and the matter is subject to Section 323 of Penal Code.

The officer also said he will ask about the sexist remarks despite it not being in the police report.

"In Baram, things can be very sensitive," lamented the police officer. Malaysiakini is withholding the name of the longhouse and its chief.

Hot seat

Meanwhile, political jostling within the ruling Sarawak BN coalition continues to fester, and the contestation is evident in the Marudi state seat.

Both the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and its splinter Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras), formed by SPDP former chief William Mawan Ikon, have expressed interest to field candidates.

Sylvester Entri Muran ( photo ) is said to be BN’s best chance at the polls, having won the state seat with a comfortable 3,202 margin in the 2011 state elections.

However, Sylvester had quit SPDP for Teras, which despite the split, has positioned itself as a BN-friendly party.

On the other hand, SPDP has insisted on fielding its own candidate. Even Chief Minister Adenan Satem, who described Sylvester as "the most winnable candidate", was unable to hold sway.

This may spark trouble for BN as the parliamentary seat of Baram, where Marudi state seat is located, almost fell to PKR in the 2013 general elections. The seat was won by BN candidate Jacob Dungau Sagan with a tissue-thin majority of 194 votes.

Longhouse politics

Some of the longhouses in Marudi are known bastions of BN parties, making it near impossible for opposition candidates to gain access in their search for votes.

Besides the longhouse mentioned, Elia said there are four other longhouses which have openly rejected opposition candidates as their headmen claimed to be staunch supporters of Sylvester.

"I heard two longhouse had put up notice (barring us) from entering," Elia claimed.

Sylvester is also the state assistant minister of public utilities (water supply), which counts for a lot in local politics.

"I was once asked to leave a longhouse area by a representative of a headman, even before I got down from the van," Elia recalled.

After decades of BN grip, these areas have developed an anti-opposition culture, and according to Elia, some even label them as "rebels".

She said she doesn’t show her party affiliation when she sets foot into these villages to avoid outright rejection. Instead, she builds friendship with them before introducing her political colours.

"There is a total of 170 longhouses in Marudi; we have visited 47 of them," she said.

‘Tangki biru’

Elia's difficulties are shared by both Paul Baya and George Chen, who were among the first batch of prospective candidates announced by PKR.

Paul, the prospective candidate for Mulu - a new Orang Ulu-majority seat created under Sarawak’s recent redelineation exercise - said there were talks among the longhouse communities that the headmen would not welcome opposition candidates.

He, however admitted he has yet to encounter such problems.

Paul expects that the going will not be easy for the opposition as support for non-BN candidates invites dire consequences.

People often do not defy their headmen for fear they will not receive government disbursements, which include basic amenities such as water tanks given to each household.

The longhouse families in Mulu need the blue water tanks, which the people fondly dubbed as ‘tangki biru’, given out by the government under the micro rural project (MRP) to store water from the surrounding mountains and rivers.

Chen, the prospective candidate for Machan state seat, admitted he faced similar problems as the longhouse headmen are allegedly withholding the MRP allocations and will only give to those who openly reject the opposition campaign team.

According to him, his colleagues and possible candidates for Tamin and Ngemah state seats also face similar issues.

Repair work

Meanwhile, Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen said his party’s prospective candidates have yet to encounter such problems in their electoral hustings.

“Our prospective candidates do not have any problem entering longhouses, they are welcomed by the community,” he told Malaysiakini in a text message.

DAP, which won 12 of the 15 state seats it contested in the 2011 election, plans to run in 35 to 40 seats in the coming state election.

Of those, at least 26 are Dayak-majority seats. In 2011, DAP won only 30 to 40 percent Dayak votes in the seats it managed to capture.

In a press statement, Chong's political secretary Gerald Roger Anding said the state government has finally resolved the poor road conditions leading to the longhouse of Jelau Atas in Layar state seat, which is in the Betong parliamentary constituency.

This is after the presence and pressure from DAP’s Impian Sarawak initiative, he said.

Impian is a DAP-initiated programme which provides basic infrastructure - roads, water and electricity - to rural communities in East Malaysia.

Prior to this, he said, the longhouse folks of Jelau Atas approached DAP Betong division for help, and the Impian Sarawak team has agreed to carry out the repair work to make it accessible to normal vehicles.

"Our project was supposed to commence on Monday. But the deputy chief minister and Layar state assemblyperson Alfred Jabu promised the government will repair the road," he added.

NOTICE: Malaysiakini is facing technical issues with the 'comments' feature in some stories, which our technical team is working to rectify. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to subscribers.