The 12th GE was concluded over the weekend with the National Front (BN) winning on a simple majority. Sarawak and Sabah played a key role (kingmaker as the press reported) in making sure BN reinstalled as Federal Government of Malaysia despite losing Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor to the opposition joining Kelantan.

All the three Bidayuh MPs won their respective parliamentary seats, Datuk Richard Riot (Serian constituency), Dato Sri Dr James Dawos Mamit (Mambong) and Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading). Hopefully these three Bidayuh MPs would be rewarded for their important role in the election either as full ministership or as deputy minister hence stronger voice in the parliament for the Bidayuh community.

Here’s the news excerpt from The Borneo Post:

Bidayuhs retain strong presence in BN govt

Posted By rajlira On 10th March 2008 @ 10:00 In Local

KUCHING: The Bidayuhs though divided by dialectal differences have once again showed in the recently concluded election that they are a tight and united community as far as politics is concerned.

The three Bidayuh seats — Mas Gading, Mambong and Serian — are all retained by the respective incumbents from the Barisan Nasional, and it looks likely that the community will get to keep at least a deputy minister’s post in the federal cabinet.

The clean sweep, however, seemed unlikely before polling day last Saturday due to manipulation of sensitive issues by the opposition that led to speculations that the BN could lose one of those seats.

Datuk Michael Manyin, often regarded as the de-facto leader of the Bidayuh community, did join the BN campaign trails in these three seats, going from Serian to Lundu, and his participation was indeed a crucial one.

Manyin’s and other leaders’ quick response to counter issues like the relocation of villagers affected by the Bengoh Dam, was seen by many as the key turning point that contributed to the BN victory in Mambong, albeit with a reduced majority.

In Manyin’s hometown Serian, the win was attributed to the great solidarity between the various BN component parties and leaders.

The win in Mas Gading was aided by the public declaration of support by opposition Sarawak National Party (SNAP) grassroots supporters towards BN.

Except for re-elected Serian MP Datuk Richard Riot who won by a whopping 13,427 vote margin, the other two — Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading) and Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit (Mambong) — fought tough battles before eventually wining by 4,301 and 6,657-vote majority respectively.

Manyin said it was vital for three Bidayuh seats to be won by BN so that the Bidayuhs would not be left out of the mainstream of development.

Already anticipating that the BN would again win and form the government, he said Mas Gading, Mambong and Serian were the only seats represented by the Bidayuh in the 222-member Parliament.

According to him again, the Bidayuhs risked losing strong representation in the BN government even if one of the seats was lost to the opposition.

“There are only 180,000 Bidayuhs out of 26 million people in Malaysia, with the Malays making up 12 to 13 million, Chinese eight to nine million, and Indians 2.5 million.

“Thus, retaining a strong representation in the (BN) government is a must for us Bidayuhs,” he said.

As diverse as its many dialectal groups, the three Bidayuh MPs also represent the many BN component parties.

Dr Tiki comes from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and is its vice president, Dawos is Manyin’s colleague in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) while Riot is from Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).

Dr Tiki, the first Bidayuh to be appointed deputy minister in the federal cabinet, now looks set to retain his post as Deputy Minister of Regional and Rural Development though the prospect of being given a new post or even promoted also looks likely.

A political observer who wished anonymity, while acknowledging that the Bidayuhs are solidly behind BN, also pointed out that the reduced majority in Mambong should be taken as a wake-up call by the MP and the Bidayuh leaders in BN.

“It seems that there are many dissenting voices in this area who may not be happy with things that are happening there. There are also villages that are still without electricity despite the constituency being situated very near to Kuching. Certain villages do no even have proper roads. I hope these issues are dealt before the next election,” he said.

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Article printed from The Borneo Post Online: http://www.theborneopost.com

URL to article: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=32395