BARU Bian decided to contest the federal seat of Selangau in Sarawak just four days before nomination day on April 28 for the 14th general election last year with little going his way initially.

Why not, since Selangau was not even considered a winnable seat for the PKR Sarawak chief.

“It was categorised in the third tier – which means it had a slim chance,” the Lun Bawang lawyer and politician said.

And he is no stranger to defeat, with four lost election bids under his belt. Two of them were federal seats, in Lawas (1991) and Limbang (2013) and he lost when standing in the Ba’Kelalan state seat in 2004 in a by-election and the 2006 state elections.

Baru finally became Ba’kelalan assemblyman in the 2011 state elections and retained the seat in 2016.

He was inspired to attempt a federal seat again after seeing winds of change sweep the peninsula in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, when Barisan Nasional lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and a few state governments. 

“I had almost no preparation on the ground before contesting (in Selangau),” said Baru at his office at the Works Ministry in Kuala Lumpur recently, ahead of Pakatan Harapan’s first anniversary in government.

He made history as the first Lun Bawang, one of the smallest tribes in Sarawak, to become a federal minister.

“I told my wife that I just wanted to be part of this (2018) election. And I hoped that there would be change and I wanted to be part of history,” said Baru.

Despite nearly zero preparations or presence on the ground in Selangau, a twist of fate for the seat’s incumbent, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Entulu Belaun, would prove to be Baru’s lucky break.

Joseph was sacked by his party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), just a week before nominations over internal problems.

“That caused a lot of unhappiness (among Joseph’s supporters). During the campaign, Joseph called us to tell us not to worry about his area as they would give us the vote. 

“‘Just go work’, he told us. And somehow, we believed him and it paid off,” said 60-year-old Baru.

The Selangau federal seat is as big as the state of Pahang and his campaign team would not have been able to cover it in the two-week campaign period.

“We only managed to go to 50 out of 600 longhouses in the seat.”

But as it turned out, this didn’t matter as the response was overwhelming.

“In all my years of contesting elections since 1991, and this was my seventh election, you don’t see chieftains and other village elders attending opposition events. But this time, it was amazing in Selangau.

“Six, seven of them would attend our ceramah and once they support you, you’re assured the rest of the longhouse will be with you.”

Baru said his years as a lawyer fighting for native customary rights (NCR) land issues also paid off.

“Many of the longhouse resident told me that I had fought for them in past NCR land cases, although I couldn’t even remember all of them. They said it was 10 to 15 years ago and they thanked me as some of them got their land back. 

“They said that they had planted oil palm on the land and now, some owned four-wheeled drive vehicles. Land issues are a big issue in Sarawak although many don’t think so.”

Baru attributed his win and PH’s stronger showing in Sarawak in GE14 to the “fever” for change from the peninsula.

He said areas, such as Selangau, Puncak Borneo, Julau, Lubuk Antu that were on the fringe of cities, had decent connectivity and as a result, were more exposed to alternative views.

“The dissemination of messages about what was happening in Peninsular Malaysia helped give confidence to voters here that they could be part of something bigger than the state itself.

“People were forwarding political videos dubbed in Iban, which were very effective.”

Different groups of youth also created more WhatsApp groups to share information, he said, adding that such use of technology had never been seen before in previous elections in Sarawak.

All Baru and PKR Sarawak hoped for in GE14 was to keep the six federal seats under its belt and hopefully nab Baram as well. 

“When we got 12 seats, we were completely surprised.” – May 6, 2019.