WITH Malay response towards Pakatan Harapan lukewarm at best, the ruling coalition is now turning its attention to the 6,000 Semai voters in the Cameron Highlands by-election.

Among the Semai voters, 1,300 are in Pos Bertau, Pos Sinderut (1,200) and Pos Lenjiang (600), which are all in the Jelai area. The remaining six Semai-majority voting stations have between 200 and 500 voters.

PH has mobilised its teams from Impian Sarawak and DAP Kelantan to help convince the Semai to break the Barisan Nasional stronghold in the constituency.

“Many of the Semai here are unaware that the federal government has changed to PH,” said Jamali Ayau, who leads the DAP Kelantan team of canvassers in Sinderut.

“Our work here is to explain these issues to them,” said the Temiar activist.

Many in the community believe that DAP is a communist party which will end all military benefits, as a result of decades of BN propaganda.

“They still believe that DAP equals communism,” said Jamali with a smile. “And since many here are retired from the army, they are worried about cuts to servicemen benefits if a DAP candidate wins here.”

Jamali, who is from the Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Semanjung Malaysia civil societies grouping, said many of the tok batin (village chiefs) are open to hearing its message.

“The Semai are very friendly people but this friendliness is also exploited by others,” he said, adding that there are some 5,000 villagers spread out in 18 kampung in Sinderut, with around 1,271 registered voters.

There are several tok batin still wary of PH canvassers, often waving them away from the villages, he said.

The Semais’ problems of lack of education, health, clean water, electricity and economic opportunities are similar to those faced by Temiars in Jamali’s home state of Kelantan.

To highlight the importance of the Semai vote, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang will meet with tok batin in Sinderut while PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is due to have a forum with them today.

On Tuesday, a team from Impian Sarawak made the three-hour journey to Lanjiang. While Bertau and Sinderut are accessible by cars, Lanjiang can only be accessed by four-wheel drive vehicles.

According to Jamali, the furthest Semai settlements are in Pos Titom, which takes about four hours of off-road travel.

According to another Sarawak Impian activist, who did not want to be identified, the BN campaign among Semai voters has been slow.

“We haven’t seen anyone go to Sinderut and Lanjiang yet. It’s either too early or the distance is a problem for them as they can’t use government machinery any more,” he said.

An election court in November ruled that during the last elections in May, BN candidate C. Sivarraajh and current Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan bribed Semai voters to support the former ruling coalition.

Sivarraajh’s victory was nullified and he was subsequently barred from contesting in the by-election.

Although Wan Rosdy is also the Jelai assemblyman, he has kept a low profile so far, leaving most of the campaigning to BN’s Orang Asli candidate Ramli Mohd Nor. – January 17, 2019.