By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Oct 22: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Women chief Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie is feeling ever more duty-bound to take care of Sri Aman to honour the last wishes of late president Tan Sri James Jemut Masing.
Before his passing in October 2021, Masing had named Doris as the PRS candidate for Sri Aman, a traditional seat of PRS which was left without a representative from the ruling coalition after incumbent Datuk Masir Kujat resigned from PRS in 2019 to join Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) but later quit to become independent.
“I cannot remember the exact date, but he (Masing) told me that I am tasked by the (then) Chief Minister to look after Sri Aman and Lubok Antu.
“Can you please take care of Sri Aman since the seat was originally allocated to PRS, he (Masing) said to me.
“Please take care of the people and when the time comes for PRU15 (15th General Election), I would like you to be the candidate for Sri Aman,” Doris recalled.
For this reason, she said she felt obligated to the people of Sri Aman and to fulfill Masing’s request all the more because she sees his message as a ‘wasiat’ (will) or ‘amanah’ (responsibility) for her.
With that said, it comes as no surprise when Doris, who is also political secretary to Premier, said that she had since November 2019 visited almost 85 per cent of the 520 longhouses and residential areas in Sri Aman.
Even in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, she stayed close to the people.
“Of course, I did not go inside the longhouses then (to observe the SOPs), but just reaching out to the longhouses and sometimes bringing food baskets, and even if it means just talking and seeing their wellbeing.
“I’m not bragging, but I’ve covered almost 85 per cent of them. Not just (seeing from far), but really going into longhouses since Nov 2019 (when SOPs eased),” Doris told DayakDaily when contacted.
Doris is by far the only candidate officially announced by PRS among its six allocated seats namely Julau, Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Hulu Rajang, Kanowit and Selangau. — Dayakdaily
