Former chief minister Taib Mahmud’s constituency expected to be promised development projects as BN and Pakatan gear up to do battle
KUCHING: When then Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud offered himself as a candidate for Balingian in the 2001 state election, the hopes of the Balingian people for a better life shot up as the constituency had been neglected far too long.
Previous Balingian elected representatives from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) – the likes of Mohd Fauzi Hamdani, Salleh Jafaruddin, Wan Habib Syed Mahmud and Abdul Aziz Majid – had failed to live up to the people’s expectation.
So when Taib decided to move out from Asajaya to Balingian, there were huge celebrations to welcome him hoping that their living conditions would be improved with good roads, schools, healthcare, clean water supply and most important of all employment opportunities.
Not only that, the constituency was at one time served by a Federal Minister with neighbouring constituencies having one state minister, one federal minister and one assistant minister.
“With all these high profile people within and nearby the constituency, you would expect Balingian to be better served,” said See Chee How, Sarawak PKR vice-chairman.
But no, that didn’t happen. The conditions in Balingian today are the same as they were 50 years ago. There is a lack of educational facilities such as a secondary school, healthcare and basic infrastructure such as roads to the longhouses and villages, clean water and so on.
“The water problem is made worse by drought. The Balingian River is very critically polluted due to coal and aluminium smelting plants as well as due to pollutants from big oil palm plantations,” said See.
“The people have to buy mineral water for consumption while longhouse folk have to make do with the polluted water from the Balingian River.
“There is no secondary school although it was promised decades ago, and parents have to send their children to Mukah to continue with the secondary education.
“But the biggest problem affecting the people of Balingian is the lack of employment opportunities. A lot of young men and women are seeking jobs in Kuching, Miri and Bintulu.
“Only aged men and women and small children are staying back,” he said.
“Every time, there is an election, the promise to build the school is made again and again,” said See, who is heading the Pakatan Rakyat team in the Balingian by-election.
The by-election was caused by the resignation of Abdul Taib on Feb 28. He is now the Governor of Sarawak.
Polling will be held on March 29 while nomination has been set for March 17, 2014.
There are 13,366 voters, 67.3% of the electorate are Malay/Melanau, while Iban voters constitute 19.02 % and Chinese 13,65%.
The PBB-BN candidate is expected to be announced later today, while Pakatan Rakyat comprising PKR, DAP and PAS will announce their candidate tomorrow.
PKR’s See said that Pakatan would highlight these problems in the by-election and that is why BN-PBB is a bit scared as it has failed to fulfil its promises to uplift the living standards of the people.
“Now the BN-PBB is sending ‘Santa Claus’ to Balingian and more gifts will be given and development projects will announced with the visit of (Deputy Prime Minister) Muhyiddin (Yassin) starting from today.
“As from today also, the BN will start to hand out land titles to more than 680 people from six Malay/Melanau villages,” he said.
He was wondering why only now that BN started to dish out land titles as almost all of the people of Balingian irrespective of whether they are Malay/Melanau, Ibans or Chinese have been asking for titles to their land.
But all this while, their requests fell on deaf ears even though they have lived in the constituency for several decades.
On Pakatan’s candidate, See said this would be announced on Sunday by PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali in Sibu.
“We don’t say he is a Melanau, a Christian or a Muslim. We don’t use this as a yardstick to choose our candidate. For us, race and religion are not an issue, whereas the BN operates along religious and racial lines.
“What is most important is that the man whom we select should be able to understand the plight and the needs of the people.
“He should be able to voice their problems in the State Legislative Assembly if elected,” he said, pointing out that by stressing his race and religion the way BN does is not good for Malaysia especially Sarawak.
Pakatan is expected to name lawyer Abdul Raafidin as its candidate, while the PBB-BN pick is likely to be Yussibnosh Balo, who yesterday resigned as a district officer. -JT