BN gave us RM10,000, claims 'tuai rumah'

A NGO today claimed to have video proof that BN had indulged in vote-buying in the recently-concluded Sarawak election.

The Malaysian Election Observers Network (Meonet) put up a videoof a tuai rumah or longhouse chief in the Tamin constituency, who apparently admitted to receiving RM10,000 on behalf of his longhouse to support BN.

Tamin was won by BN through PRS candidate Joseph Mauh Ikeh, who obtained 4,998 votes, a 1,292-majority over PKR's Mengga Mikui, who finished with 3,706 votes in the predominantly Iban area.

In the nearly six-minute video - done almost entirely in the Iban dialect - the longhouse chief claimed that some BN representatives gave him three cheques, with the biggest valued at RM5,000, on the morning of April 13.

It is understood that two other cheques, valued at RM2,000 and RM3,000, were given earlier.

“Dulu nadai, RM20 aja bagi nya (We got nothing in the past, they only gave RM20),” the headman said when asked if his longhouse had received that much in cash handouts in previous elections.

Meonet coordinator Ong Boon Keong said the video was shot yesterday after they received information from one of their observers.

Ong said the three cheques were issued to the longhouse development and security committee, on top of RM50 handouts given to 14 heads of families living in the community.

When asked if all in the longhouse voted for BN, the headman simply said, “Bisik mangkah” (We did mark), referring to the act of marking 'X' next to a voter's party of choice on the ballot paper.

The longhouse chief however admitted that the longhouse residents “nadai untung”, or gained nothing, after voting for BN for the past 25 years but felt obliged to vote for the ruling party as they had already been “bought”. - Malaysiakini