‘Little’ Robert expected to win big

By MC Wong

The by-election machine of BN switched on right on the day (April 9th) the incumbent five term MP of Sibu, Robert Lau, passed away after a long battle with cancer at the age of 66.

Already waiting in the wing was his replacement, 45-year-old Robert Lau Hui Yew . He is actually the cousin (not the son, as some might assume), of the late deputy transport minister.

He has introduced himself as ‘little Robert’ or xiao luobo in Chinese, to emphasise his lineage.

The parents of both Roberts pioneered KTS trading, which is involved in multiple businesses throughout the country as well as abroad. The corporate activities range from logging, plantation, and fertiliser manufacturing, to sale of power saws, heavy machinery, air-conditioners, construction materials, garden tools, as well as bee farming, media and travel services.

The group, one of six major timber companies of Sarawak, also invests in Indonesia, China, Australia and Brazil in timber, plantations, construction and other businesses.

Recently KTS’s tree plantation project in the Baram area of the northern Sarawak touched off a controversy when affected Penan communities staged a road blockade late last year.

However, its international image remain largely undamaged as contrasted with its rival, the Rimbunan Hijau group, another Sibu based timber company.

Media domination

KTS dominates the various local language media of Sarawak. The group owns See Hua, Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo that reach a good number of readers throughout the state, as well as Sabah. They also own a national Chinese paper, Oriental Daily that seems less competitive than the Sin Chew, the RH group’s national daily.

With these advantages, little Robert’s entered the public consciousness at the funeral of the senior Robert (right) to mark the beginning of Lau family’s effort to develop its new representative in the political arena.

Sibu residents know that KTS has always had a policy of having a family member sitting in Parliament. Back in 2004 while the senior Robert’s health was still intact, little Robert had already been chosen as his successor.

Hui Yew which literally means “able to shine” finished his secondary education in the mission- run elite Sacred Heart school and continued his tertiary education by reading law in Australia.

His name appeared in the board of directors in several of the KTS subsidiaries, including the plantation industry which is currently establishing an oil palm plantation across the Igan Bridge opposite the Sibu Town Square.

Incidentally, open burning there, and at the neighbouring RH plantation to clear peat swamps caused a near inferno last April. The local environment authority claimed that the fire went beyond the scale permitted. The boss of RH plantation is also the town mayor of Sibu and MP for Lanang. Despite being business rivals, they seem to have much in common.

Little Robert has maintained a low profile before becoming a member of the Sibu Municipal Council. The public is now informed that he was formerly active in sport.

It is probable he is wants to portray an image attractive to young voters – 37.5 percent of the electorate are aged below 40. He is also launching a Facebook campaign.

Unlike his elder cousin, an accountant by profession, “xiao Luobo” a corporate lawyer is expected to play a positive political role.

Clean image

His party, Sarawak United People Party (SUPP) is keen to portray him as a Mr Clean, as opposed to the senior Robert who was rumoured to have links with Sibu secret societies.

However, the ability of the younger Robert is yet to be tested while the senior Robert is still remembered for his contribution to the street orderliness and rubbish management.

Over the past weeks, the candidate-to-be who also heads the sanitation committee of the town council, has paid special attention to meeting the hawkers in the central market. His visit to a church kindergarten’s toilet was very impressive as his humbled himself totapi (shake hands, in local Iban) the children.

As an observer, I first met little Robert during the 12th national election in 2008 in front of a polling station. He was accompanying his team in distributing food and drink to some people. When he saw me wearing a Mafrel name tag he immediately branded me as a west Malaysian. Perhaps, in his mind, the troublemaker had to an export of the Peninsula!

He challenged me to speak Foochow, the Sibu dominant Chinese dialect, prove I was a local.

It would not be too far wrong to say that SUPP does want the interference of Semenanjung people be it Pakatan,UMNO or NGOs.

Delivering the votes

Having said quite a bit on the personal character and background on little Robert, let me come to some points on whether he would deliver.

In the 12th Parliamentary Election, BN won less than 40 percent of the Chinese votes of the Palawan state constituency.

SUPP’s Sibu chief, Soon Koh (far right) could not understand why Sibuans were so “ungrateful”.

We know that the main portions of Sibu are built on peat swamp. Often there’s the problem of sinking ground. The situation can get worst as new construction takes place without proper planning or shortcuts taken due to corruption.

Residents of the low lying areas are experiencing more frequent floods year by year. Promises for better drainage remain as promises. A bund system along the river bank following the Dutch model has been proposed for several years.

However, as time passes, the mighty Rajang continues to be silted up by indiscriminate logging activities upstream. With the impoundment of the Bakun Dam, more uncertainties can be expected soon. The patience of Sibu people is running out.

Common sense says that upstream management and excavation of riverbed sand would be a better solution.

It is rather hard for little Robert to convince the people that he can solve the problems that his senior could not.

If this is the case, he is unlikely to obtain more Chinese votes than his predecessor. The Chinese votes of P.212 Sibu makes up 66.7 percent of the total vote, and that swing is probably very slim as most of the urbanites’ minds have already made up their minds

An analysis of the last parliamentary result reveals that BN got two-third of the Malay votes that comprise 10.4 percent of the updated electoral roll.

SUPP actually pays less attention to the Malay voters as that was left to PBB, the state’s BN component party headed by Taib Mahmud (right), a Malanao Muslim. A good number of Malays in Sibu are not happy with Taib’s leadership, perhaps, due to a mixture of racial sentiment and for receiving little share of the economic cake. We remember well that the flags of UMNO were once flying high in the Kampungs before the formation of PKR.

With the setting up of PKR branch in Nangka (one of the three state constituencies within the Sibu Parliamentary constituency) the same handsome majority may not recur among the Malay votes.

As for the Iban votes (33 percent) of the Bawan Assan state constituency, only about one quarter went to the opposition in 2008. These are votes in the bank for BN.

NCR land rights

Lau’s efforts, which is largely concentrated among the Chinese, would count for little should NCR land rights awareness issue find its way to the longhouse folks.

However, this may not be the case for this by-election as few land disputes have surfaced in these outskirts of Sibu.

However, as more and more indigenous customary lands in the constituency are now being issued to the corporate sector, including the Hua Seng Oil Palm Plantation related with KTS, conflicts could surface soon, similar to what many other longhouses throughout the state are experiencing.

Little Robert, who sits on many board of directors in the corporate world, cannot hide himself and it won’t be easy for him to resolve the conflicting interests he represents.

However, he should be optimistic of his chances of winning as his campaign would be fully supported by his family fortune as well as the official funds that have already been pouring in.

Already a grant of RM2 million for four primary schools during the Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin’s (left) visit on April 19th has been promised.

The fight for the seat, likely a straightforward one to one battle, is expected to be very tough. We can expect the both sides to mobilise their respective human and material resources that would make Sibu as busy as Bangkok.

In spite of the opposition’s effort to strategically form the Pakatan Rayat for the by-election with four component parties, namely, PKR, DAP, PAS and SNAP, the advantage is still on the side of BN. This is because Pakatan’s machinery simply cannot match the BN’s.

In this sense, the little Robert may be able to shine, but whether he can deliver after that, is left to be seen.