Dayaks want number two slot in SUPP

KUCHING: The downfall of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in the April 16 state election has awakened its slumbering Dayak community.

Until that fateful day, the Dayaks in SUPP were just a quota or so, it appears.

Now, the Dayaks with their fours seats are the reason why SUPP is politically relevant.

SUPP contested 19 seats and lost six seats to the opposition. Only two of their Chinese candidates managed to win.

The two seats are held by party deputy secretary-general Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Assan) and committee member Lee Kim Shin (Senadin).

Both these victories are, however, mired in allegations of electoral fraud by the opposition.

Wong had allegedly paid Iban “workers” to “help” during the campaign, while Lee won his seat by 58 votes. The Senadin votes were allegedly counted during a blackout at the counting centre.
The four SUPP Dayak seats are held by Francis Harden Hollis (Simaggang), Jerip Susil (Bengoh), Ranum Mina (Opar) and Johnical Rayong (Engkilili).

Except for Harden, who is the party deputy secretary-general (II), all the others are ordinary committee members.

Besides these state assemblymen, the other Dayak in SUPP who holds a seat is Serian MP Richard Riot.

With this newfound might, a veteran SUPP member has called for the creation of a deputy president’s post for the community.

Time is right

In making this call, SUPP Kota Sentosa member Anthony Nait said that a deputy president’s post would serve as a “recognition” for the community’s contribution to the party’s struggle.

“It is about time the party had a Dayak deputy president. Without the Dayak contribution, the party might have been wiped out in the recent state election.”

“All this while the Dayak members in the party have been solidly behind SUPP. They also worked closely with members of other Barisan Nasional (BN) partners.

“The Dayak elected people’s representatives had also contributed to the party strength,” Nait said.

He added that in view of the party’s poor performances in 2006 and 2011, it was now imperative that the leaders read the ground sentiments correctly and recognise the emergence of young voters who wanted issues addressed promptly and efficiently.

Agreeing with SUPP president Dr George Chan’s call for the party’s top leaders to resign and make way for the younger generation, Nait said Sarawakians had given the party ample opportunities to change but the leadership had failed to act.

Nait also said that his proposal to create a top leadership post for the Dayak was “the right step to take” in view of the changing political lanscape in Sarawak.

Dayak votes

Following the April 16 state polls, political analysts noted an unexpectedly high voter swing towards the opposition.

Shockingly, the swing was in the Malay and Dayak areas.

An associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University, Bridget Walsh, reportedly said that the opposition’s “greatest gains were in semi-rural areas”.

She had come to the conclusion after doing a comparitive study between the April 16 polls and the results of the 2006 state election.

According to her findings, the voter swing was as high as 20% in semi-rural areas and 15% in rural areas.

She attributed this to the “increased mobilisation of younger voters”.

After garnering 12 seats, the DAP declared that it would be extending its reach to the rural areas in the next state election.

Sarawak DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng said the party would chart out a five-year strategy to capture the rural seats.

To this end, the party had suggested a merger with Dayak-based Sarawak Nasional Party (SNAP).

The idea was initially shot down by SNAP but the door is not closed yet, according to both sides.

DAP’s secretary Chong Chieng Jen said that both parties would have to hold more discussions and SNAP recently announced the formation of a four-member panel led by former sessions court judge Augustin Liom for this purpose.

Meanwhile, in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said that the outcome of the Sarawak election indicated a wind of change in favour of the opposition.

He said the 38% increase in votes from the natives in certain areas in Sarawak was a clear message that the voting trend had changed and was now favouring the opposition.

Both DAP and PKR collectively won 16 seats in the recent election, making it a historic win for an opposition coalition. An independent, George Lagos, won the Pelagus constituency seat. SNAP has since claimed that Lagos is a party member.