MP in Serian

KUCHING: The centre set up by Sarawak DAP in Serian has not only set in motion its determination to wrest the parliamentary seat from the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in the coming general election but also caused ripples among the Bidayuh community as well as in the Barisan Nasional camp.

Weekly education programmes are organised by the party to instil political awareness among the Bidayuh community, so that they know their rights as voters as well as their rights and privileges to development, scholarships, business opportunities and so on.

With all these activities going on, Michael Manyin, the state assemblyman for Tebedu and state minister as well as Martin Ben, state assemblyman for Kedup, have expressed concern.

The two constituencies (Tebedu and Kedup) form the Serian parliamentary constituency.

Peter Minos, who is deputy information chief of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), accused DAP of being too “ambitious and greedy” in eyeing Bidayuh parliamentary seats.

“The urbanites may love DAP but not the Bidayuhs who still need many basic things like treated water, electricity and roads from the BN government,” he said.

Besides the Serian seat, DAP is also interested in contestesting other Bidayuh majority seats of Mambong and Mas Gading.

Five-term Serian MP Richard Riot, who is deputy minister of foreign affairs, is also feeling the heat coming from DAP that he has never missed any weekend to be with his constituents.

He has to counter and contain not only the increasing influence of DAP but also appease the growing discontentment of the community against his leadership.

His victory in the last election was mainly due to the strong support given by the Bidayuh community which comprises 23,540 voters. But now the community appears to be split, and this is his main concern.

And as far as the 3,200 Chinese voters in the constituency are concerned, their votes will go for DAP.

According to Riot, Prime Minster Najib Tun Razak knows how serious the problems affecting the community are, so he wants the former to defend the seat for a sixth term.

As in any Dayak area, native customary rights (NCR) land is a major issue.

The politicians however accused the villagers of being “anti-development” and claimed that they were instigated by the opposition.

But Riot’s supporters argued that the MP should not be blamed.

The coming election may see Riot facing one of his schoolmates, Edward Andrew Luak, a senior employee of Sarawak Shell.

“Although the response from the villagers is good, we still need to work harder,” he said.

Extract from FreeMalaysiatoday Joseph Tawi