SARAWAK Barisan Nasional’s boast to win “at least 28 seats” lay shattered when it lost five more seats and failed to dislodge Pakatan Harapan in the six seats they held before the dissolution of parliament.

BN was even sent reeling by two independents – Larry Sng in Julau who defeated four-term MP and former deputy minister for information, communication and culture Joseph Salang Gandum – and Jugah Muyang winning the Lubok Antu seat.

The five new seats, apart from Julau and Lubok Antu which PH won, were Mas Gading, Puncak Borneo and Selangau where PKR state chairman Baru Bian won by a narrow margin in his straight fight with PRS’ sole woman candidate Rita Insol.

Baru won by just 486 votes. He polled 11,228 votes to Rita’s 10,742 to pull off one of the major upsets in the state by becoming the first ethnic Orang Ulu to win an Iban-majority seat.

PBB’s vaunted reputation of never losing a seat in any election came to an end when it lost the Bidayuh-majority seat of Puncak Borneo while the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) hung onto its Serian seat which was retained by its deputy president and former human resources minister Richard Riot.

The ruling coalition’s biggest loser however, is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), which lost three of its six seats – Julau, Selangau and Lubok Antu.

The loss of Selangau and Lubok will be more controversial because PRS president James Masing sacked the incumbents, his deputy and former minister in the prime minister’s office, Joseph Entulu (Selangau) and William Nyalau Badak (Lubok Antu) just two days before nomination allegedly for “working against party interests”.

Political observers, however, believed it was a move to pre-empt any attempt by the BN hierarchy to reinstate the two. – May 9, 2018.