Ignored Bidayuh spell trouble for SUPP

By Terence Netto

As SUPP gears up to defend its stronghold of Sibu in the parliamentary by-election on May 16, discontent in its Bidayuh-dominated state wards near Kuching threatens to veer out of control.

The state seats of Bengoh and Opar, located near Kuching, are held by members from SUPP’s Bidayuh faction, Dr Jerip Susel(right) and Ranun Mina respectively.

These wards, together with the parliamentary constituency of Serian, held by another Bidayuh, Richard Riot, are said to be rife with the community’s discontent over unfulfilled promises made to them by the Chinese-dominated SUPP, which is the second ranked member of the ruling BN state coalition.

Seeming tardiness of the SUPP leadership to appoint Jerip as president of the presently vacant Padawan Municipal Council is threatening to bring simmering Bidayuh discontent with the party leadership to crisis proportions.

Sources say Jerip has been promised the presidency of the council by the SUPP leadership which is said to be reluctant to deliver on that pledge because of opposition from the party’s Chinese supporters in the municipality, which covers the Batu Kawa and Bengoh state constituencies.

The Bidayuh faction of the party has long been unhappy with the tendency of the SUPP leadership to entice Bidayuh voters to support their candidates in wards dominated by this ethnic group only to fail to follow through on promises made during the wooing period.

Of this gap between election pledges and post-election reality, one Bidayuh observer who ranks high in the state administration said:

“This has gone on for far too long. The only recourse for these Bidayuh is to get their elected representatives to become BN-supporting independents such that they can then be taken seriously.”

He said the upcoming by-election for the Sibu parliamentary seat, a forte of the SUPP’s, provided an unrivaled opportunity for Bidayuh discontent with SUPP to gain attention.

Intricate balance

SUPP’s standing in the state coalition was weakened by the reverses suffered in the last state election held in May 2006.

Gains by the opposition DAP in six seats were at the expense of the SUPP. The DAP will attempt to leverage on those gains to wrest Sibu from SUPP in the by-election poll on May 16.

Though there is no sizeable Bidayuh presence in Sibu – they make up 10% of Sarawak’s overall population of 2.3 million – a public airing of discontent in areas considered their precincts would go some way in convincing the Iban, who are 33% of the state population and 18% of the Sibu electorate, to prefer the DAP in the by-election.

Support for the ruling BN coalition is based on an intricate balance in ethnic representation in political and municipal spheres that can only be sustained by every community accepting representational quotas considered as optimum.

Every now and then, breaches in the tight fit spawn discontent that simmers until factors connive to bring them to the surface.

The Bidayuh of SUPP are now at one such pass.