Commentary
By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 7: With the backing of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, it is all but certain that newcomer Rodiyah Sapiee (GPS-PBB) will win P200 Batang Sadong.
Rodiyah, 44, is a local girl raised in Tanjung Harapan in Simunjan District.
She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
As a civil servant in the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), she gained valuable experience handling issues that are close to the people’s hearts such as native customary right (NCR) lands.
She may be a relative political greenhorn in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) but she has been on the ground helping to bridge the distance between the government and the people on issues especially those related to land disputes.
It must also be noted that she is the first female candidate with an engineering background fielded by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
She is in a straight fight against Lahaji Lahiya (Pakatan Harapan-Parti Amanah Negara), 71, who is a former teacher and had served in the Sarawak Education Department prior to his retirement.
Lahaji who is also known by the moniker of ‘Cikgu’, hails from Kampung Sungai Apin, a village just next to Rodiyah’s.
On the surface it might seem like an even fight between two newcomers, but dig deeper and the indicators suggest Rodiyah is already well on her way to retaining the seat for GPS.
Why?
On nomination day (Nov 5), 4,000 GPS supporters flocked to the Dewan Mesra Simunjan nomination centre to show support to the graceful lady. This was by far, the largest group of supporters to turn up at a nomination centre for any candidate on nomination day.
When DayakDaily arrived at the site as early as 7.30am, a carpet of GPS supporters clad in their iconic white shirts and waving hundreds of GPS flags could be seen stretching out in every direction within a 300-metre radius of the nomination centre.
In comparison, Cikgu Lahaji’s group, according to an insider, numbered 64.
Even with Cikgu Lahaji’s supporters wearing red shirts which would make them stand out from afar, the press didn’t realise about their presence until someone alerted the rest of the pack to the sparse Pakatan Harapan (PH) flags held by their supporters, drowning in the sea of GPS supporters.
According to Election Commission (EC) statistics as of Oct 9, 2022, P200 Batang Sadong has 32,640 registered voters.
If the sea of 4,000 GPS supporters on that day were purely from the Batang Sadong constituency, this would guarantee at least 12.25 per cent of total votes for Rodiyah come polling day on Nov 19.
Secondly, Rodiyah is 27 years younger than Cikgu Lahaji.
If both are newcomers and not famous personalities—arguably one of the dominant factors when voters decide who should be their elected representative—then there is a high chance that voters would lean towards voting for a younger candidate from a party with bigger influence than the other.
This leads us to the third point, where GPS is proven to be a bigger force than Amanah because the three State constituencies under P200 Batang Sadong, namely N24 Sadong Jaya whose incumbent is Aidel Lariwoo, N25 Simunjan (Awla Dris) and N26 Gedong (Abang Johari) are all strongholds of GPS.
Aidel, Awla and former Gedong assemblyman Datuk Mohamad Naroden Majais were seen flanking Rodiyah as if they are her bodyguards since the day Abang Johari announced the GPS candidates for GE15 at PBB headquarters in Kuching on Nov 3.
Having such energetic support from these political veterans may or may not overshadow the new candidate but there is no arguing that it is working in terms of better visibility or publicity for Rodiyah in the campaigning process.
At the same time, Abang Johari who is also the Premier of Sarawak and leader of the GPS coalition, is going all out to campaign for Rodiyah.
He was present to lobby for Rodiyah on nomination day and traveled again to Simunjan today to attend a ‘leaders with the people’ event in Kampung Tanjung Pisang.
During his speech, he of course didn’t forget to sing her praises and openly declared his support for Rodiyah in a bid to get Batang Sadong constituents to vote for her.
The Batang Sadong seat itself was previously held by caretaker federal Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dato Sri Nancy Shukri (GPS-PBB) for three terms since 2008 until 2022.
Now, some may say Rodiyah has big shoes to fill after her predecessor, who has given way to stand in P193 Santubong this coming election.
However, if Abang Johari, the number one politician in Sarawak and known to be a far-sighted leader who always has cards up his sleeves, is lobbying for Rodiyah to stand in P200 Batang Sadong, it would be unwise for any one to underestimate the new face. — DayakDaily
