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Oldest candidate Soon Koh lies low and dances in longhouses

S'WAK POLLS While other candidates campaign in quite a high-profile manner, Wong Soon Koh, the BN direct candidate who is defending his Bawang Assan seat for the fourth time, approached voters quietly, without alerting the media.

He did not hold ceramah in town areas like his former colleagues in the Sarawak United People's Party and the opposition.

He did not publicly inform the voters about his campaign via newspapers.

It seems he is fighting an invisible campaign - just 'vanishing' in the outskirts of the town and rural areas, in the Sarawak BN traditional stronghold of Sibu.

On the fourth day of this Sarawak state poll campaign, he visited three longhouses and danced and laughed with the Iban community.

Bawang Assan is a semi-urban and semi-rural area, with 53.1 percent Chinese, 41.3 percent non-Muslim bumiputera and 5.5 percent Malay Melanau.

The school principal-turned-politician has never lost since 1996 state polls. Notably, he won with a landslide majority of 7,096 votes in 2001.

In the 2011 state polls, when DAP harped on allegations surrounding the then-chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and took 12 state seats, Soon Koh survived with a majority of 1,808.

His former colleagues in SUPP lost three Chinese-majority seats - Pelawan, Dudong and Bukit Assek - in Sibu.

Adopting a similar strategy then, he focused on longhouses too.

Drastic increase

The state redelineation exercise saw a drastic increase of non-Muslim bumiputera from 33 percent in 2011 to 41.3 percent in 2016, while the Chinese representation decreased from 62 percent to 53.1 percent in Bawang Assan.

Soon Koh, who quit SUPP and formed the United People's Party (UPP), a BN-friendly party, is now challenged by PBB supreme council member Watson Bangau John Nathan Renang.

Watson is seen as a candidate with the potential to split Soon Koh's non-Chinese votes.

This has prompted him to campaign in the longhouses area all the more.

Watson, was once the political secretary to caretaker Chief Minister Adenan Satem, was sacked by his party for contesting the seat as an independent candidate.

Speculation was rife that the lawyer was secretly persuaded by SUPP and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) to join the battle.

"I have known him for a long time, he comes from a Bangau family and he is well known. I am disappointed, I thought all in the (BN) parties are friends," said a surprised Wong on the nomination day.

Beside Watson, Soon Koh is challenged by DAP's Stanley Chiew, Star's Wong Sing Wei, and another independent candidate Yeu Bang Keng.

It is believed that both Sing Wei and Yeu will not pose a major threat to Soon Koh as they may have split the Opposition's support.

He visited six longhouses in two campaign days.

Not on Google maps

On Thursday, Malaysiakini was able to follow him to Lupok Pelaie longhouse, Pasar Besar longhouse and Rantau Panjang longhouse.

Some of these longhouses cannot be detected even on Google maps and there is no handphone reception in the area.

A 33-year-old housewife said she never heard of other candidates beside Soon Koh.

"I don't know why I like him (Soon Koh), but he is friendly," she said.

Some said Soon Koh never missed the chance to visit them during the Gawai festival.

Soon Koh arrived the longhouse with his black Mercedes escorted by his campaign team in four-wheel drives. They were greeted with tuak - Dayak rice wine.

Soon Koh, 73, who is the oldest candidate in this state polls, swayed to a traditional Iban dance, when the musicians played traditional instruments - like the engkurumung, tawak and bedup.

It was a joyful moment for the team where the tension of the polls was forgotten at the moment.

In his speech, Bujang Anak Ujeh, the son of the longhouse chief, invited all the people to rise and shouted "long live BN" and "Ooh-ha", a trademark scream of Adenan Satem and UPP's mascot.

"All the 161 people in the longhouse, support Datuk Seri (Soon Koh)," he said.

Despite that strong statement, Soon Koh may not be able to sweep all the votes in this particular longhouse as a few youths who sat at a corner, seemed immune to Soon Koh's charms.

A 38-year-old man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, admitted that he supported the opposition.

"He (Soon Koh) has been there too long, needs to give way the younger people," he said.

Interestingly, while BN flags and Soon Koh's posters were seen in the longhouse, a house put up a DAP flag and a poster of PKR youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

The house owner, Gomez Hillary, 34, who worked in the private sector, clarified that he has no issue with Soon Koh, but was just unhappy with the allocation given by BN.

The development of the longhouse has lagged behind and there were many promises unfulfilled despite Soon Koh winning many terms, he said candidly.

Albert Minda, 69, who sat beside Gomez, revealed that other candidates were unable to campaign here as the longhouse chief had refused their entry.

As such, he said he would organise a ceramah nearby to allow DAP candidates to express their political views.

DAP's Stanley Chiew, who visited other longhouses on the same day, was not as well received as Soon Koh.

Soon Koh denied that he arranged his strategy to prevent his votes being split by his former colleague Watson.

"I normally visit rural areas - Chinese villages and Iban longhouses soon after the nomination. There are more than 100 longhouses in Bawang Assan. Rural first, towns later," he said.

"This is a democratic world, we need to compete with each other. At the end, the hardworking ones gain the most...I do not want to underestimate anyone, I want every vote," he explained.

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