KUCHING – Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) is a new player in Sarawak’s political landscape. Established only in 2013, the party did not pitch any candidate in the 2016 state elections.
Its electoral debut was in the 2018 general election for the Sarikei parliamentary seat.
The party failed miserably in that first outing. The PBK candidate, Wong Ching King, only garnered 392 votes.
He was up against the DAP's Wong Ling Biu, who garnered 16,327 votes and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Huang Tiong Sii, who reaped 13,757 votes from the largely Chinese voter bank.
Any party with such poor showing would think twice about wanting to bounce back into play. But not the party president, energetically bushy-tailed Voon Lee Shan.
Determined and eager, he is planning a strategy to place his candidates in all 82 state seats in the upcoming election. And that includes the eight Bidayuh-majority seats of Tarat, Tebedu, Kedup, Bukit Semuja, Opar, Tasik Biru, Serembu and Mambong.
Traditionally, these are hot seats that will see keenly fought contests and court large-scale media attention.
To date, Voon has peddled several candidates to Sarawak voters – some of whom will contest in the more perilous electoral terrains of Batu Lintang, Batu Kitang, Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa, Batu Kawa and Stakan.
All these urban and suburban seats in Kuching are now being held by political juggernauts: See Chee How (Parti Sarawak Bersatu/former PKR-Batu Lintang), Lo Khere Chiang (SUPP-Batu Kitang), Wong King Wei (Independent/former DAP-Padungan), Violet Yong (DAP-Pending), Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Kota Sentosa), Dr Sim Kui Hian (SUPP-Batu Kawa) and Datuk Seri Mohammad Ali Mahmud (Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu-Stakan).
These incumbents and their parties have been dominant players in Sarawak’s politics long enough to have established a “fellow-feeling” with the electorate.
Will Voon’s candidates be convincing enough on the campaign trail to reset this equation?
‘No cakewalk’
Speaking to The Vibes, Voon hints that it is not going to be a cakewalk for his candidates but electoral upsets are not uncommon.
“In these seven urban and semi-urban seats where our candidates will be challenging formidable incumbents, there is no clear-cut edge as to who will be the victors,” he said.
“And, it will be the same in the eight Bidayuh majority seats and in the other constituencies where we are pitching our election machinery.
“This is because there will be multi-cornered fights, which make it difficult to predict the outcome.”
Voon is right – last-minute shifts in public opinion and vote splitting can spark phenomenal vote-swings in every election.
“We are relying heavily on our line of campaign which goes beyond bread and butter issues,” he said, confidently remaining resolute in his game plan.
“Our campaigning is rooted in the soil, it is about seeking Sarawak’s freedom and independence.
“Our manifesto is all about reclaiming our oil and gas resources, the Malaysia Agreement 1963, initiating quick solutions to the Native Customary Rights land issue and, on a mega scale, to modernise Sarawak with the most needed infrastructure.”
The lawyer-politician in Voon promises an ultimate political battle at the hustings, seeking to pursue freedom from the federation by a “Unilateral Declaration of Independence”, which he claims is legal under international law on many grounds.
Nationalist party
Asked why the party did not contest in the 2016 state elections, he said: “We skipped that election as we were not in full swing then. So, we fielded one candidate in the 2018 general election, but with very little election assets and campaigning.
“We just wanted to introduce ourselves in the 2018 debut and took the opportunity to position our party as a ‘nationalist outfit’ fighting for the independence of Sarawak.”
Voon, who was elected president of the party in 2019, made major changes to the party’s management policy, one of which was to recruit young professionals into its fold.
“We will be fielding young candidates for the election, candidates with not just basic degrees but with masters and even doctorates.”
Among some of the latest batch of candidates who will be pitted in the urban and suburban constituencies in Kuching are a property developer, an aquaculture consultant, a senior software engineer, a quarry and mining engineer, an oil and gas construction engineer, as well a former air force man.
“All these candidates are election-ready and are raring to roll out their talents,” says Voon.
Gaining traction
“PBK is now known throughout Sarawak and we see ourselves as a ‘Party of Sarawakians, for Sarawakians’. No, we are not a Malay-based, Chinese-based or Dayak-based party. We do not want to polarise ourselves based on racial and religious lines,” Voon added.
“This stand that we took has attracted people from all walks of life in becoming party members. We already have Malay-Muslim candidates, and this is a good sign that we are already being noticed and gaining traction.
“Our constant presence in the Sarawak media has paved the groundwork for election campaigning. Without let up, we have consistently articulated our aspirations and the aspirations of the voters, and we are able to gauge the sentiments of the electorate and how they are perceiving us as well.”
According to Voon, Sarawakians have woken up to a new reality.
They want to see Sarawak free from the shackles of being ruled by “outsiders”.
According to the math worked out by his party machinery, revenue gained by the state from its oil and gas sector alone surpasses RM100 billion, he claims. But the state only earns a return of RM5 billion as annual development budget from the federal government.
“We have lost huge amounts of wealth, which we should rightly take back. We can only do this when we are in control of our own resources. We have to be independent first in order to become a fully developed nation,” he asserts.
Before August this year, Sarawak will see its election spectacle as typical of any election hosted anywhere. Manifestos will be laid out and politicians will go hoarse vocalising them on the ceramah stages.
Pushing for his larger-than-life dream of an “independent Sarawak”, Voon has a lot of gumption.
But will his shrill rhetoric reap him enough votes to turn his dream into reality? For now, it looks like the “lawyer” in him is getting the better of the “politician”. – The Vibes, January 9, 2021
