Practical Bidayuhs smart, only keep ‘helpful’ reps

The voters of Mas Gading tend to change their MP once they are considered of 'no further use' to them.

KUCHING: Mas Gading, located at the southern-most tip of Sarawak, is a Bidayuh enclave. The parliamentary constituency has the largest concentration of Bidayuh voters – almost 80% of the electorate.

The Bidayuhs, formerly known as Land Dayaks, are reputed to be the most economically advanced among the Dayak communities.

Since they live near the state capital of Kuching, most of them are educated and many are successful entrepreneurs and professionals.

This is probably the reason why elected representatives in Mas Gading do not last long. The voters have a tendency to change their MP once they are considered of “no further use” to them.

Loyalty is in question here but who can blame them – their loyalty is to their own survival and that of their families. In a nutshell, they are very practical people.

Perhaps the two most colourful Mas Gading MPs in recent times were Patrick Anek Uren and the late Dr Patau Rubis.

The two fought each other several times, both in the state and parliamentary elections. They won some and lost some but had maintained their strong bond and warm friendship throughout.

This was evident when the duo eventually joined hands in later years in the opposition.

Patau formed the State Reform Party (STAR) in 1996 after he was sacked as a state assistant minister and Patrick stood on a STAR ticket as recent as the 2013 general election in Mas Gading.

Patau passed away suddenly in March 2016 and Patrick is still aligned with the opposition. He is currently deputy president of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDS Baru).

Dr Tiki Lafe defeated Patau in Mas Gading in the 1999 election but he, too, fell out of favour within Barisan Nasional (BN) and was dropped as a candidate in GE13.

Anthony Nogeh Gumbek.

Not willing to give up without a fight in 2013, Tiki stood as an independent and was defeated by newcomer and incumbent MP Anthony Nogeh Gumbek.

Nogeh can count his lucky stars for he was appointed a deputy federal minister soon after his successful electoral debut. He is the sole representative of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) in the federal administration.

But credit is due to Nogeh, too.

As the deputy agriculture and agro-based industry minister, he has worked hard for his constituency.

His recent announcement that he wanted to transform Mas Gading into the main producer of MD2 pineapple and Musang King durian in Sarawak went down well with the Bidayuh farmers whose main asset is land.

To achieve the goal, Nogeh said he has been actively promoting the planting of the two-highly valued fruits in his constituency, and they have already made their way into the international market.

“Give us one or two more years, and you will be able to see Musang King durian trees and MD2 pineapples growing on land along the roads in Bau and Lundu,” a Borneo Post report quoted him as saying.

Smart move, Nogeh.

DAP, in line with its “Go Rural” campaign, also contested Mas Gading in GE13.

The party’s young Bidayuh candidate, Mordi Bimol, garnered a respectable 5,293 votes but trailed behind independent Tiki’s 6,109 and Nogeh’s 8,265 votes.

Although Mas Gading has been touted by Pakatan Harapan as a seat within its reach in GE14, the going might be tougher for the opposition this time than in GE13.

Nogeh has worked hard and he is now backed by the newly-elected state assemblyman for Tasik Biru, Henry Jinep, who is immensely popular among the electorate.

This Nogeh-Jinep combo is certainly of “great use” to the Bidayuhs in Mas Gading, at least for now.

And as the “smart” electorate has shown, the elected representatives will have their support as long as they continue to be helpful and useful. -FMT