GABUNGAN Parti Sarawak (GPS) is expected to wrest back at least half, if not all, of the six rural Dayak-majority parliamentary seats in the upcoming general election, according to early forecasts by political analysts. 

The six seats the state ruling coalition surprisingly lost in the 2018 general election are Puncak Borneo, Mas Gading, Lubok Antu, Selangau, Saratok, and Julau. 

In the GPS seat sharing arrangement, Puncak Borneo was given to coalition lynchpin Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB); Lubok Antu, Selangau, and Julau were given to Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS); and Mas Gading and Saratok are going to Progressive Democratic Party.

The fourth component party of the coalition is Sarawak United People’s Party. 

GPS has been strongly tipped to win back Puncak Borneo, Mas Gading, Selangau, and Lubok Antu, with a tight fight for Saratok and Julau. 

Pakatan Harapan (PH) pulled off a major shock when PKR won three seats – Puncak Borneo, to inflict PBB’s first loss in any election since its formation in 1973; the Iban-majority Selangau, with a candidate who is not an Iban; and Saratok.

In winning the Bidayuh-majority seat of Mas Gading, DAP also registered its first ever win of a Dayak seat. 

Independent candidates added salt to the wound by taking the other two – Lubok Antu and Julau. 

University of Tasmania’s political expert James Chin said GPS could wrest back “at least two” of the Iban-majority seats and one Bidayuh-majority seat, while University Malaya’s Awang Azman Awang Pawi and Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Jayum Jawan gave PH and the independents slim hope of retaining their seats. 

The six constituencies fell to PH due to internal sabotage and spite-voting, particularly in PRS’ allocated seats.

The electorate voted not against the candidates, but against then PRS president James Masing over unresolved party disputes.

In Selangau, for example, PRS supporters were unhappy with Masing for dropping three-term incumbent Joseph Entulu Belaun, with a similar unhappiness spurring discontent in Lubok Antu when Masing dropped the two-term incumbent Williams Nyallau Badak.

Both were dropped at the last minute. 

Entulu was then minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Masing’s deputy.

Courted by PKR, Entulu’s primed and ready-to-go electoral machinery backed the campaign of Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian, who is of Lun Bawang descent. 

In Lubok Antu, Nyallau had his supporters back independent Jugah Muyang.

Chin did not name the two Iban-majority seats, but he was clearly referring to Selangau and Lubok Antu.

Baru’s new party, Parti Sarawak Bersatu, had hinted he could be contesting in his hometown of Lawas.

The parliamentary seat there bears the same name. 

Chin does not think Baru could repeat his Selangau feat in Lawas. 

He said PSB, which has entered a political arrangement with two other state-based parties, Parti Bumi Kenyalang and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru, has no traction in rural Dayak seats.

“Even Baru Bian has gained very little traction since he joined PSB,” Chin said. 

Chin said most of the people he had spoken to have said they will not vote against Baru.

“They said they’ll just stay at home (on polling day).”

Chin said though Baru is well liked, his supporters are not happy with him being in PSB. 

Jugah, who joined PKR soon after winning the seat, had tried to be admitted to PRS.

His application is reported to be on the verge of being rejected as PRS’ grassroots leaders and supporters, still smarting from the 2018 defeat, have said they do not want him. 

Puncak Borneo incumbent Willie Mongin, who was sacked by PKR over his role in the Sheraton Move that led to the collapse of the PH government in February 2020, had recently been admitted into PBB and it is a near certainty that he would be asked to defend his seat.

Mongin, deputy plantation industries and commodities minister, is a well-known figure in the constituency, having stood – and lost – in the 2011, 2013, and 2016 elections. 

Jawan dismissed the opposition’s chances, particularly the upstart PSB.

“They do not have any chance. It was a bonus that Soon Kok – PSB president Wong Soon Kok was able to win Bawang Assan in the last state elections. 

“It would not happen this time around during the parliamentary elections,” alluding to speculations that Wong would contest the urban Chinese seat of Sibu.

Though 63% of the electorate is Chinese, Wong is thought to be banking on the support of non-Muslim and Muslim Bumiputera – Ibans, Malays and Melanaus – who make up a significant 25% of voters, to help him oust DAP’s two-term incumbent Oscar Ling and get him to parliament.

“What can PSB and PBK offer to the Dayaks in the rural areas?” Jawan asked.

He said they will merely play with regional rhetoric that does not put “bread and butter on the table, or provide jobs for the jobless”. – October 3, 2022.