By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Dec 19: Local parties PBK, Aspirasi, PBDSB and Sedar suffered crushing defeats with none of them able to claim a single seat between them to make a breakthrough in the 12th Sarawak Election.
Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) which raised eyebrows when they deployed the second largest team of 73 candidates in their bid to penetrate the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly and form the government so that they can pursue their main agenda of Sarawak independence failed to even make a splash, what more rock the boat.
Even party president Voon Lee Shan, a senior lawyer and former Batu Lintang assemblyman, in his political comeback attempt in the seat he once helmed for one term in 2006 under a Democratic Action Party (DAP) ticket returned empty-handed.
Up against four other contenders for the N14 Batu Lintang seat, he only managed to garner 1,570 votes.
While it was thought that the recent uproar over his abrupt detention by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for questioning could perhaps pull in sympathy votes, in reality it mattered little.
Making its State election debut, PBK’s poor performance is attributed to most of its candidates being new faces without track records, unknown and unfamiliar on the political ground, inexperienced and untested.
However, where the party does not waver is on the idea of independence and one cannot deny its role in igniting the flame within Sarawakians on the importance of independence as there have been noticeable increases in awareness on the ground with calls for separation growing louder.
Another party on the State’s political fringes hoping to make its mark was Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) which combined its forces with the Sarawak4Sarawakians (S4S) movement to field 15 candidates in Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang, Kota Sentosa, Batu Kawah, Serembu, Mambong, Repok, Machan, Bukit Assek, Dudong, Pelawan, Tanjung Batu, Piasau and Pujut.
All of them were defeated including Aspirasi president Lina Soo in N09 Padungan seat in a four-cornered tussle.
The party which started as State Reform Party (Star) was founded by the late Dr Patau Rubis in the 1990s. It later rebranded as Aspirasi under Soo’s leadership in 2020. Its mission is to push for a Sarawak independence referendum to let Sarawakians self-determine the future of Sarawak.
Both PBK and Aspirasi are still considered as political infants and perhaps, what they need most is time to work the ground just like planting durian trees which take a long time to grow and require particular care to survive before it can begin to bear fruits.
Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) was another big loser in this election. It fielded 11 candidates in the Dayak-majority seats of Opar, Bukit Begunan, Ngemah, Dudong, Pelagus, Katibas, Bukit Goram, Murum, Samalaju, Senadin and Marudi.
For a relatively junior party positioning itself as the political vehicle for the Dayak community to take on well-established giant parties in Sarawak is truly an uphill battle.
The party was registered in August 2013 but was deregistered in June 2019 for failing to submit its annual returns and later had its registration reinstated in August 2020.
As for Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (Sedar), this party has been almost entirely absent from the public sphere of attention and discussion even though it was registered in 2019.
The party that campaigns on a platform of a fair wealth distribution system and ending poverty in Sarawak fielded only five candidates. Party president Datuk Othman Abdillah contested in Samariang, while other candidates took on Opar, Muara Tuang, Lingga, and Saribas.
Prior to nomination day, the party has presented writs to 23 potential candidates but only to meet with huge disappointment as only five appeared at nomination centres on nomination day. This fact exposed the party’s weakness.
Sarawak has a relatively stable political system in which historically two main coalitions Gabungan Parti Sarawak (formerly Barisan Nasional Sarawak) and the national opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) have dominated recent politics.
For any Tom, Dick and Harry to steal an election is a miracle because it takes time, effort, dedication and sacrifices to establish and spread influence as well as build a lasting political legacy.
But most importantly, they need to be seen doing, and not just talking without solid, convincing and realistic action plans.
But of course the challenges for small parties are many and varied, especially in terms of resources and funding, so for these upstart political parties, especially PBK, to send such a huge team into the ring was quite a feat in itself.
The race to the State Legislative Assembly is long, winding and uphill, and new candidates cannot expect to win in their first race.
However, bear in mind that these mosquito parties could still form a formidable force, given time, with strong leaders and enough resources. They need to be even better prepared if they want to cause an upset when the next election comes around in order to make a huge difference and bring the change they want. — DayakDaily
