Malaysiakini - DAP Wins Sibu By-election

DAP wins Sibu, majority 398

LIVE REPORTS [PHOTO GALLERY] Earlier reports Small, big and giant steps for Pakatan 'Political tsunami' finally reaches East M'sia A 'historic' victory, says Kit Siang 11.30pm: Speaking at a press conference, a beaming Wong Ho Leng says: "This victory is one small step in Sibu, one big step to (state administrative capital) Petrajaya, and one giant step to Putajaya." Robert Lau, meanwhile, expresses sadness: "I'm sad, because Sibu is going to lose out on a lot of things. I have said in my campaign that if we lose, we lose the confidence of the federal government. "But my heart is still with the people of Sibu and I will serve them in whatever capacity that I can," says the SUPP leader. 11.10pm: A crowd of 3,000 gather outside the main tally centre at Dewan Suarah to celebrate DAP's victory in Sibu. They shout, "Dacing tipu". Independent Narawi Haron forfeited his RM10,000 deposit for failing to obtain at least one-eighth of the total vote cast. The Election Commission has revised the voter turnout. It now says the turnout was 70% instead of 59.86% (which is higher than the 68% in the 2008 general elections). Votes cast - 37,919 votes Turnout - 70% Spoilt votes - 395 votes Majority - 398 votes Postal votes - 2,429 votes 10.58pm: Election Commission makes official announcement: DAP - 18,845 BN - 18,447 Ind -232 Majority - 398 The two-hour delay in the announcement of the result was due to a dispute in the postal ballots where 208 votes were rejected. This however did not change the final result. According to the EC, the dispute was over the validity of witnesses' signature for postal votes. DAP leaders claimed that there is a discrepancy in the postal vote tally between what they have and the Election Commission's, which caused much anxiety among the opposition that their win could be "stolen". The final result of the postal ballots: DAP - 70 BN - 2,323 Ind - 36 Rejected postal votes - 208 10.55pm: Election Commission is expected to announce that DAP has won the Sibu by-election with a majority of 398. On the spot analysis: Pakatan Rakyat has managed to reverse its series of losses (Bagan Pinang and Hulu Selangor) with this win in Sibu. Of the 11 by-election since March 2008, Pakatan has won eight while BN three. Sibu is also Pakatan's first victory in East Malaysia (PKR lost in Batang Ai in April last year). For DAP, this is the first by-election which the party has won in 13 years. Sibu will be the party's second parliamentary seat in Sarawak to its existing Bandar Kuching. With the defeat in Sibu, BN may delay the Sarawak state election to next year. Sarawak will need to call the state polls by middle of next year. 10.35pm: It appears that there was some minor dispute over the postal ballots. However, it is learnt that the Election Commission will be announcing the result soon. It is almost certain that DAP has won this closely fought by-election by between 300 and 400 votes. 10.30pm: SUPP Sibu chief Wong Soon Koh at Wisma Sanyan criticised Lim Guan Eng for acting rude by "leading people to come to 'kacau'." "This is not a healthy culture," he said. Robert Lau is also reported to be dissatisfied that Lim and four other DAP members met with the SPR officer without the presence of Barisan people. They said they will "consider taking the election dispute to court." 10.15pm: At the main tally centre in Dewan Suarah, two SUPP officials are meeting with returning officer Wong See Meng. It is believed that they are discussing about the delay in the announcing of postal vote results. They are later joined by DAP officials Ng Wei Aik, Lim Lip Eng and Ronnie Liu. It is still raining in Sibu. The rain began about two hours ago. Supporters from both sides, many of them holding umbrellas, are waiting calmly outside Dewan Suarah. 10.10pm: Election Commission chief Abdul Aziz Yusof tells Malaysiakini in an SMS message that the postal ballots Form 15 is on its way to the main tally centre in Dewan Suarah. "EC is waiting for the official postal ballot result," he says. Meanwhile, EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar says the commission will explain the delay soon. "I'll explain after we announce the result shortly," he tells Malaysiakini. 10.09pm: All top DAP leaders are waiting at Wisma Sanyan, where the postal ballots were counted. Lim Guan Eng tells Malaysiakini that he is worried “something suspicious could be going on” and he hopes that the Election Commission officials can release the Form 15, a document which certifies the final result of the postal ballots. Should it be true that BN has won the postal votes by a margin of 2,300, then DAP will be declared the winner of the Sibu by-election with a tissue-thin majority of 300 votes. It is confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin has returned to Kuala Lumpur. There is no movement at the main tally centre in Dewan Suarah in Sibu. The official tally still indicates that 16 boxes, including the postal votes, are yet to be sent to be included in the final result. 9.50pm: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang questions the hold-up in the Election Commission's announcement of the 2,571 postal ballots. "The postal ballot counting started at 5.30pm and finished at 8.30pm." He asks why there is more than an hour delay in the announcement of results. "Up to some trick?" he wonders aloud. 9.35pm: The counting of postal votes has ended. However, DAP scrutineers are unable to get Form 15 - the official tally signed by the returning officer. It is understood that BN has won 2,300 out of a total 2,571 postal votes. This will translate into a DAP victory with a margin of 300 votes. DAP candidate Wong Ho Leng refuses to claim victory as yet. "I don't want comment. Please wait for the official announcement," he told Malaysiakini. 9.24pm: The final result may not be announced anytime soon. The 2,571 postal votes are still being counted. All DAP leaders leave the party's operations room in Sibu for Wisma Sanyan where the postal votes are being tallied. DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang wants to know what is holding up the Election Commission from announcing the by-election result. 9.21pm: Election Commission chief Abdul Aziz Yusof sends a SMS message to Malaysiakini saying that the voter turnout "could be more than 60 percent". Malaysiakini has earlier asked him to confirm whether the voter turnout was 59.86% as announced by the EC a few hours ago. 9.10pm: Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and other party leaders are set to leave the party's operations room in Sibu. But instead of going to main tally centre at Dewan Suarah, they plan to go to Wisma Sanyan, where the postal votes are being counted. 8.57pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, BN has reduced DAP's lead down to 2,590 votes. A total of 109 out of 110 polling streams have been counted thus far. DAP - 18,570 BN - 15,980 Ind - 201 Majority - 2,590 On the spot analysis: Only one polling stream and 2,571 postal votes yet to be included. BN is expected to win over 90% of these votes but will it be enough for it to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? 8.40pm: An umbrella revolution is swelling outside of the main tally centre at Dewan Suarah, with 200 people standing in the rain to show their support for DAP's Wong Ho Leng. Around 200 cops estimated in area, but no untoward incidents so far. No top leaders from either BN or Pakatan Rakyat are there at the moment. 8.33pm: DAP members and some leaders at its Sibu operations room are celebrating, but top party leaders are still waiting for confirmation and refuse to declare victory. 8.14pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has increased its lead to 3,944 votes. A total of 103 out of 110 polling streams have been counted thus far. DAP - 18,211 BN - 14,267 Ind - 138 Majority - 3,944 Postal votes are still being counted. In addition, no results yet to come in from BN stronghold Kg Ilir Nangka. In the 2008 general elections, DAP lost by 1,272 votes in Kg Ilir Nangka and 2,571 in postal votes. However, two DAP MPs - Anthony Loke and Jeff Ooi - have claimed victory. "Sibu Pakatan Rakyat set to win by wafer-thin majority... probably less than one hundred!" says Loke in his tweet message. On the spot analysis: DAP is close to victory but it is still too close to call. By all estimates, the margin of victory will be in the hundreds. 8.13pm: A crowd of supporters stand with umbrellas in the rain outside the counting centre compound, chanting "Wong Ho Leng" (DAP candidate) off and on as they wait for the official result to be announced. The projector outside the centre however has gone offline, and no updates available so far. 8.10pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has increased its lead to 3,279 votes. About 95.5% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 17,120 BN - 13,841 Ind - 137 Majority - 3,279 8.04pm: Unconfirmed reports on the final few thousand votes - DAP lost Malay/Melanau-majority Ilir Nangka by 1,354 votes but won Chinese-majority Oya Lane by 665. It now hinges on the 2,571 postal votes. If BN can win 2,441 of these postal votes, which is possible, it will win the by-election. The margin of victory will be less than 100 votes. 7.58pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has increased its lead to 3,130 votes. About 93.9% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 16,786 BN - 13,656 Ind - 136 Majority - 3,130 7.52pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has increased its lead to 3,048 votes. About 92.6% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 16,538 BN - 13,490 Ind - 136 Majority - 3,048 DAP leaders and supporters, who are watching the unofficial results displayed by a LCD projector, are biting their nails. On the spot analysis: BN stronghold Kg Ilir Nangka and postal votes still yet to be announced. In the 2008 general elections, DAP lost by 1,272 votes in Kg Ilir Nangka and 2,571 in postal votes. 7.40pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP's lead breaks the 3,000 mark for the first time - it is now 3,022 votes. About 90.5% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 16,178 BN - 13,156 Ind - 135 Majority - 3,022 On the spot analysis: DAP appears close to victory, but with postal votes and a key Malay/Melanau area yet to be tallied, BN can still win this by-election. Whatever the result, it will be close either way. 7.35pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has again increased its lead to 2,920 votes. About 90% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 15,981 BN - 13,061 Ind - 134 Majority - 2,920 7.30pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has again increased its lead to 2,817 votes. About 87% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 15,655 BN - 12,838 Ind - 132 Majority - 2,817 On the spot analysis: The 2,571 postal votes are now being counted. This is where BN is banking on clawing back into lead. In the 2008 general elections, SUPP won 94% of the postal votes. 7.15pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has again increased its lead to 2,236 votes. About 81% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 14,283 BN - 12,047 Ind - 129 Majority - 2,236 7.13pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, BN has narrowed DAP's lead to 1,577 votes. About 75% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 12,966 BN - 11,389 Ind - 126 Majority - 1,577 7.07pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has further increased its lead to 2,091. About 67% of votes have been counted so far. DAP - 11,941 BN - 9,850 Ind - 99 Majority - 2,091 On the spot analysis: BN stronghold Kg Ilir Nangka and postal votes yet to be announced. In the 2008 general elections, DAP lost by 1,272 votes in Kg Ilir Nangka and 2,571 in postal votes. In addition, also yet to be counted is Rejang Park, a major DAP stronghold. 7.02pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has further increased its lead to 1,544. So far, 66 out of 110 polling streams, or about 62% of votes, have been counted. DAP - 10,773 BN - 9,229 Ind - 97 Majority - 1,544 On the spot analysis It appears that DAP has benefitted from a slight swing of Chinese voters. However, there is no change in Iban and Malay/Melanau vote. Indeed, BN could have won more votes from these two groups. DAP will need to a sizable lead if it is to win this by-election as it is expected that BN will get the lion share of the 2,537 postal votes, which are yet to be counted. According to DAP sources, they won in all Chinese-majority polling streams but the turnout was low, especially among young voters. MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong says in a tweet that DAP has won over 66% of the Chinese votes. BN will need to bag at least 80% of the Malay/Melanau vote to win this by-election. 6.50pm: Rain starts to fall in Sibu as ballot boxes continue to stream into the counting centre at the main tally centre in Dewan Suarah. A crowd of onlookers has swelled to about 100 people in surrounding shops, mostly curious about the hive of activity at the hall. 6.46pm: The Election Commission announces that the voter turnout for today's by-election is 59.86% or 32,742 voters. The total in postal votes are 2,537. 6.42pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has further increased its lead to 914. So far, 59 out of 110 polling streams, or about 54% of votes, have been counted. DAP - 9,188 BN - 8,274 Ind - 89 Majority - 914 6.38pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP has increased its lead to 838. So far, 57 out of 110 polling streams, or about 52% of votes, have been counted. DAP - 8,888 BN - 8,050 Ind - 87 Majority - 838 6.35pm: EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar is chairing a closed-door meeting to discuss an objection raised by DAP candidate Wong Ho Leng over discrepancies in postal votes. Dapsy chief Anthony Loke said the objection was over inconsistencies in signatures of witnesses, and DAP are claiming fraud. "The EC are not happy about it. We don't know what the intend to do," Loke said when contacted through SMS. It is understood that Wong has walked out of the postal votes counting centre but no decision has been announced yet by the EC. 6.24pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, DAP is leading for the first time as the Chinese-majority areas are being counted. DAP - 7,026 BN - 6,243 Ind - 52 Majority - 783 So far, 44 out of 110 polling streams, or about 43% of votes, have been counted. "It's a clear sign that Chinese votes have swung in favour of us," says DAP leader Anthony Loke. "The question is whether this is enough to carry us through." DAP sources say that ballot boxes of Malay/Melanau areas yet to be counted. They comprise 10.5% of the Sibu electorate. Also the estimated 2,000 postal votes, where BN is expected to win over 90% of the votes, are not factored in yet. 6.16pm: A crowd of 150 gather at the DAP operation room in Sibu. As the unofficial results stream in, the crowd cheer. 6.09pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, BN is leading by 1,869 votes. So far, 26 out of 110 polling streams, or about 20% of votes, have been counted. BN - 4,303 DAP - 2,434 Ind - 41 Majority - 1,869 6.01pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, BN is leading by 1,957 votes. So far, 25 out of 110 polling streams, or about 20% of votes, have been counted. BN - 4,205 DAP - 2,248 Ind - 41 Majority - 1,957 It appears that DAP is slowing bridging the gap as polling streams from Chinese-majority areas are now being counted. 5.50pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, BN is leading by 1,985 votes. So far, 22 out of 110 polling streams, or about 18% of votes, have been counted. BN - 3,804 DAP - 1,819 Ind - 37 Majority - 1,985 EC chair Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof says he was not satisfied with the lower voter turnout which fell lower than the 67% recorded in the 2008 general election. Meanwhile, Sibu police chief ACP Shafie Ismail says polling went smoothly except for a minor incidents of heckling among supporters of the contesting parties. 5.40pm: A few ballot boxes arrive at main tally centre in Dewan Suarah. Dark storm clouds and strong winds coming in, heavy rain expected in Sibu. 5.25pm: Election Commission workers are seen going into the main tally centre at Dewan Suarah in Sibu town. This is where all the votes from the 54 polling centres in today's by-election are tallied. The final result will be announced by the returning officer later tonight. DAP sources say the party appeared to have performed worse in Iban areas compared to the 2008 general election. 5.05pm: According to the latest unofficial tally, BN has increased its lead to 2,097 votes. So far, 19 out of 110 polling streams, or about 13% of votes, have been counted. BN - 3,493 DAP - 1,396 Ind - 33 Majority - 2,097 5pm: The remaining 22 polling stations close. Another 23 pollings stations had closed earlier and counting is in progress. 4.50pm: A total of 31,119 have voted by 4pm. Voter turnout is 56.9% with one hour to go before the closing of the remaining 22 polling stations. The voter turnout is expected to be far below the 68% in the 2008 general elections. 4.30pm: According to the latest unofficial tally in the polling stations which have closed early, BN has increased its lead to 1,930 votes. So far, 16 out of 110 polling streams have been counted. BN - 2,959 DAP - 1,029 Ind - 18 Majority - 1,930 Of the 16 polling streams counted, at least 10 are from Iban areas where DAP is expected to lose. Iban comprise 4.29pm: Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal (left in pix) denies a scuffle ever occurred at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sg Aup as alleged by DAP MP for Bakri Er Teck Hwa (see below - 12.30pm). “There wasn't a scuffle (as reported). I was there (to request the DAP supporters) to disperse. There was no scuffle,” the minister told Malaysiakini. Shafie said that he was there with a group of BN supporters. “The MP (Er) was in the middle of the road distributing leaflets to voters. That can't happen,” said the Umno vice-president, referring to election laws against campaigning on polling day. “I told him (Er) that he wasn't allowed to do such a thing. In the election laws, it is prohibited. As a member of Parliament, he should know the laws. 4.20pm: According to the latest unofficial tally in the polling stations which have closed early, DAP is trailing by 1,784 votes. BN - 2,808 DAP - 1,024 Ind - 18 Majority - 1,784 It is still too early to spot the trend as the result is from 15 polling streams out of 110 polling streams in areas which BN is expected to do well. 4.14pm: DAP youth chief Anthony Loke tweets about his altercation with EC officials tallying the votes. He describes them, particularly those coming from Kuala Lumpur, as being “rude” and accusing them of “harassing” the DAP polling agent for “complaining too much.” They are upset because, fighting “for every vote,” the agent is questioning too much. To the EC officer's complaint that the agent is being 'leceh' (demanding), Loke says he “shot back” with the words: “Don't we have rights to complain? Dah biasa makan gaji buta!” ('You've become used to earning an easy salary!'). 3.40pm: According to latest unofficial results from 12 polling stations which has closed, DAP is trailing by 1,029 votes. BN - 1,839 DAP - 810 Ind - 15 Majority - 1,029

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Showdown in Sibu

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Sibu’s new political awakening

By Bridget Welsh | Malaysiakini

Tomorrow is polling day in Sibu. After days of quiet campaigning, there is now finally a growing sense of excitement. This non-political town is having a national awakening as both sides have gone all out to win voters over.

In Sibu square, BN leaders are making earnest appeals to the voters, while the big guns of the Pakatan Rakyat are gearing up for a final ceramah tonight and concentrating their day’s activities in the pivotal Iban areas.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is making a personal gamble by returning for the second time in the campaign period to appeal for votes, gambling that his popularity wins support.

Traditionally, local factors and perceptions have shaped the outcome in this constituency of 54,695 voters, and they are still relevant. Increasingly, however, national concerns are swaying voters as Sibuans are recognising their important role in the country’s future. And they are feeling a sense of empowerment never felt before.

?In this final lap, the opposition is gaining ground in a contest that was initially firm in the hands of the BN. The DAP, working with its Pakatan partners, now has a real fighting chance.

The BN on its part is doling out goodies, making promises and pushing its resources to the maximum for a win. The cool breeze from the Rajang River and a morning drizzle belies the real political heat on the ground.

Stark choices

Sibu voters are faced with contrasting choices for this campaign. Foremost is the choice to vote for money, or vote for change.

It is a ‘buy-election’ after all and in Sarawak, money politics are the norm. The promises for school funding, flood allocation, new land lease rates (announced last night) are all part and parcel of election promises.

To this end, BN has the advantage of access to three sources of financial muscle: access to both federal and state resources, as well as the personal resources of the candidate.

?Voters have been given ‘grants’ of RM600, longhouse tuai heads allocated RM10,000 to RM20,000 to sway residents, and ordinary voters across the races promised RM100 as an advance on a possible victory, with more cash to come. It is important to understand that these sums are not small change for many impoverished voters.

The combination of development promises – for real problems such as flooding and education – and inflows of cash present difficult choices for voters, particularly those who are less enthusiastic about the ability of the opposition to deliver substantive change.

On its part, the opposition has urged Sibuans to vote with their conscience, appealing for the need for a stronger opposition voice in government, and suggesting that a vote for the opposition will in fact bring about more engagement and resources from federal and state leaders.

The latter is doubtful as neglect of this town is deep-seated, but the reality is that the contrast in approach is becoming sharper as the campaign evolves.

BN corners itself

The BN has slowly created its own dichotomy in this campaign: a vote for delivery or vote for discussion.

Their main attack on the opposition appeals to the pragmatism of Sibuans. In their mantra label on the opposition as “all talk, no walk”, they are focusing on deliverables. This message is couched subtly in a framework that aims to discredit the opposition as a viable coalition partnership and undermine its struggling leadership.

?The defections of PKR members, the Islamic state discussion about the DAP’s partnership with PAS, the court case against Anwar Ibrahim all comprise this frontal attack on the opposition.

Many Sibuans hold deep suspicions of West Malaysia and lack familiarity with national players, and this strategy has confused many voters. This tactic to muddying the waters isn’t quite as muddy as the Rajang River, but it has gained traction as the BN has appealed for support as the prime candidate for effective governance.

Ironically, this approach backfires on BN as it opens the ruling coalition to serious questions about what it has delivered in Sibu over the past years. The decades of dire neglect in the state increase the BN’s vulnerability.

SUPP in particular is seen as weak and ineffective, and this has forced the BN to turn to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud (who has considerable political baggage from his 29 years in office) and national leaders such as Najib in framing its engagement with the town.

For the opposition, they face a serious challenge of delivering on their promises, and have been cautious in their promises of deliverables. That caution went out the window last night in the final appeal to make sure that Sibu voters have a national voice.

Voters here are reflecting on the difficult choice of whether they want concrete deliverables or a voice challenging the lack of deliverables.

Local loyalties

?These choices are compounded by a difficult decision over the two local boys: the local candidates. It is, after all, a small town with personal and professional ties to both candidates – Robert Lau Hui Yew (left) and Wong Ho Leng (right).

The SUPP is appealing the electorate to vote for the legacy of the late Robert Lau, to remind voters of the boom years and the former tycoon’s contribution to the town.

Meanwhile the DAP has focused on the record of Wong Ho Leng as a fighter against injustice.

The candidates have thus far acted responsibly and avoided personal attacks. The mud in Sibu has stayed in the river instead of being thrown on the campaign trail. This speaks to the shared fraternity and civility of both candidates – both lawyers in a small town – and the quiet dignity of Sibuans in how they conduct their daily lives.

This does not mean that there have not been the occasional swipes, as voters themselves have contrasted the dichotomy of rich and poor, in the upbringing of the SUPP and DAP candidate respectfully.

Both men have baggage, but Robert Lau Jr’s lack of political experience and engagement with the electorate, broadly as well as his party’s extremely poor machinery, has arguably been more weight to carry around. He has yet to capitalise effectively on his strengths as a member of a powerful tycoon family.

Najib’s personal contest

As the awakening evolved in Sibu, there is a growing recognition of the national stakes. Like Hulu Selangor, Najib has made this a personal contest. He has taken a bold risk by putting his credibility on the line.

?This shows some degree of daring from a man who has been touted as overly cautious, and signifies how important this contest in a remote town in Borneo means for his leadership. It also shows a degree of increasing confidence, riding on the impressive first quarter economic growth of 10.1 percent.

The reality is that Najib cannot implement needed economic reforms without a mandate, and cannot introduce a strong economic plan, devoid of a simplistic debate over affirmative action and the NEP, without a clear decisive win.

For Pakatan, this contest has also had real meaning, as a victory here opens up the possibility of winning national power. They desperately need East Malaysian seats to offset PKR defections in West Malaysia to build a credible national alternative.

Voters in Sibu are beginning to understand this difficult choice – to give a mandate to Najib or to open further opportunities for an opposition which badly needs positive momentum.

Deciding factors

Given the choices for voters, it is thus important to lay out what will shape the outcome on this last day.

1) Changing of the playing field

Little attention has been placed on what may prove ultimately decisive: the changing of election dynamics in Sibu.

The movement of one army battalion out of the constituency – lowering the votes usually given the BN – and the relocation of one major pro-DAP Chinese polling station to the neighbouring Lanang constituency, involves potentially over 3,000 votes.

?The movement favours the BN overall, although it may backfire as it tightens the remaining contests. This voter relocation is important in this close contest, and will put pressure on the need for a high turnout on all sides.

The opposition has strengthened its machinery, and now for the first time can assign polling station agents to areas never covered before – some with previous 99 percent victory to BN. This accountability improves the process overall.

Many voters, however, remain fearful their votes are not secret despite the Election Commission’s remarks yesterday which reaffirmed a fair process. Insecurity on the part of many voters remains, as rumours of phantom voters persist.

Tomorrow, the integrity of the election process will be put to the test and it will be the responsibility of the EC to assure that the votes of Sibuans are genuinely and fairly counted.

2) Voter turnout and mobilisation

Every vote will count. This constituency has always had low turnout, less than 70 percent in parliamentary contests, given the high numbers of voters living in remote areas and their “non-political” orientation.

Voter turnout in this race will be very important. Who and how many people come to the polls will determine the outcome.

A high voter turnout in the Malay and Iban areas will favour the BN, where it has traditionally won over 80 percent of the votes. DAP needs the Chinese voters to show up in droves, as they have secured more than 62 percent of their vote in the past.

?I predict that the final majority will be small, less than 3,000 for either side, and thus less than 10 percent of the voters could shape the final outcome.

The major contest now is winning over fence-sitters or newly politicised voters. Voters are engaging like never before, although many remain unsure who to vote for. The BN is relying on financial incentives to mobilise, while the opposition is working on building mood for change.

Given the energy at the ceramah of both coalitions last night, Pakatan is winning support on the ground. The real war will come tonight as the opposition faces off against Najib’s personal appeal.

3) Ethnic swings

The fight for votes focuses on winning key ethnic constituencies. The most contested community has been the Iban.

Usually easily bought over, there appears to be more openness to the opposition this round as concerns over poverty and more communication with younger Ibans working outside have raised questions about the relative living standards of this rightfully proud community.

?Whoever wins this contest will need an Iban swing. Here the choice for money or change is most stark.

The other two major communities are important as well. DAP gains among the Chinese will give them a victory, if they can push their support level above 72 percent. This is where the issue of candidates and deliverables will be most crucial, although more and more Chinese Sibuans are thinking about the national direction in areas of religious freedom and fair representation.

For the Malay community, the stalwart BN base in Sibu, any movement will be a bonus for either side.

This contest has had less of the ultra-chauvinist overtones of other by-elections since March 2008, but it’s still there and percolating over issues of rights, corruption, distribution and charges of Malay betrayal on the part of the opposition leadership.

The BN needs their Malay base more than ever in this round.

4) Local alliances and gambling

In this heated contest tied to voter mobilisation and ethnic swings, local networks factor in.

Friends supporting friends, calling on others to vote, will matter. Indirect and direct ties to parties will matter. Discussions in the coffee shops, churches and children’s day care are intense. Women voters will be decisive as many have not voted before and are less politically mobilised.

Beyond social networks and personal connections to the parties and candidates, the role of the local imam, samseng, clan and professional associations and gambling pools will make a difference.

It is a small town after all, and local leaders and groups have an impact. Traditionally, of these local dynamics the most important has been gambling, as the gaming odds have been manipulated with financial backing to swing votes in favour of one side as voters vote to win their bets in favourable odds.

Given the antipathy of local tycoons – in which the Lau family is a major player – and the closeness of the contest itself, this could also prove important, although this time around, it may not be as crucial a factor as in earlier contests.

Sibuans deserve better

The main gamble that will matter when the contest is over is whether the PM gets his mandate or the opposition gets its momentum, and whether investing personally paid off for Najib or whether bringing in national politics in the form of a multi-ethnic alliance benefited the DAP in Sibu.

?The stakes are high and choices difficult. Sibu voters may be waking up to their national role, but are not sure exactly what they are waking up to.

Like most Malaysians, they want (and deserve) a better, more effective, fairer government that allows them to live in peace and prosperity.

They have a dream. Tomorrow they will choose who they will entrust to carry it out.

***

Last-minute tweets --

Real-time results for #sibu

mingxhin

1. Gangster State #Sibu #P212 http://bit.ly/bCDGcT about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck
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2. mingxhin
   Wong Soon Koh:"A vote for rocket is a vote for Islamic State" Me:"A vote for soup is a vote for Gangster State" #Sibu #P212 about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck
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3. YiiSing
   @weekasiongmp i dont care for Thomas cup. i just know #sibu DAP will upset BN by tomolo about 1 hour ago via web in reply to weekasiongmp
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4. mingxhin
   @mozas_my29 How Karpal nak bunuh Mahathir,langgar dia ngan kerusi roda?Pi lah lu kumpul kat Perhimpunan Mei 13 Tak ada kaitan pun ngan #Sibu about 2 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to mozas_my29
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5. williamnka
   Good night Tweeples. Waking up early for #Sibu #P212 By-Election showdown later today. Go out in full force on Twitter. about 2 hours ago via web
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6. williamnka
   Santa Claus donated RM167mil few weeks ago in HS and he's delivering another bag of goodies to #Sibu. I didn't know we hv Christmas thrice. about 3 hours ago via web
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7. AdrianNCF
   @SamZzNg betui cakap u.jadi pengundi yg bijak #Sibu #P212 about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to SamZzNg
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8. SamZzNg
   @AdrianNCF yah betul. Tapi status quo sekarang, bagi duit kita ambik. Tapi undi? Jangan harap. #P212 #sibu about 3 hours ago via UberTwitter in reply to AdrianNCF
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9. williamnka
   #P212 #Sibu, dun be blinded. PM Najib only promised you RM5mil if Robert Lau wins. If not, don't dream on the RM5mil. Reject MONEY SCAM !!! about 3 hours ago via web
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10. AdrianNCF
    Rakyat #Sibu sekalian,jangan undi demi $! Undi demi masa depan anak-anak anda!! #P212 about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck
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11. AdrianNCF
    Rakyat #Sibu sekalian,jangan undi demi $! Undi demi masa depan anak-anak anda!! about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck
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12. bongkersz
    MACC, EC = butt jokes.. D talk about change is a sad joke, when d PM tried to broker an unholy deal for votes. "Do we have a deal?" #Sibu about 3 hours ago via UberTwitter
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13. barisannasional
    “Battle of Century” Grand finale ceramah – tweets: #P212 #Sibu DAP grand finale crmh near Paramount Hotel MPs Chie... http://bit.ly/aI7LCq about 3 hours ago via twitterfeed
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14. chedet
    “Battle of Century” Grand finale ceramah – tweets: #P212 #Sibu DAP grand finale crmh near Paramount Hotel MPs Chie... http://bit.ly/aI7LCq about 3 hours ago via twitterfeed
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15. mingxhin
    Sticking neck out time:My prediction 4 #Sibu DAP win 1500 votes or landslide 3000+ votes.65% Chinese,30% Iban,20% Melanau,10% Postal GudNite about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck
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16. hushh_sahudin
    I would like nothing better than for Sibu #Sibu #P212 to vote for real change, and get it. about 3 hours ago via web
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17. limkitsiang
    #P212 #Sibu grand finale ceramah ended w LGE as anchor speaker summoning Sibuans 2lead change Great end 2campaign of Battle of Century about 3 hours ago via UberTwitter
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Murum Penans under threat - Star

Image via Wikipedia

by Stephen Then

stephenthen@thestar.com.my

BELAGA: Many Penan families living in the Belaga district of central Sarawak have been affected by the clearing of jungles for the construction of the RM3bil Murum Dam.

The jungles being cleared for the dam, located 70km inland from the Bakun Dam, have a large population of Penans, many of whom have lived in isolation from the outside world for centuries.

The clearing of the jungles has affected their food supply and they have been forced to migrate in search of food.

Catholic priest for the Belaga parish, Sylvester Ding, recently came across a group of semi-nomadic Penans who had wandered out of Murum while searching for food.

“A community made up of some 20 Penan families from Murum have now moved out from the dam area because they are short of food. We found them wandering near the Bakun resettlement site in Sungai Asap.

“They are now taking temporary shelter in a long-house,” said Ding.

He added there might be more needy Penans who would be forced to migrate once the dam construction was in full-swing.

He hoped the Government would look into the plight of the Murum Penans. There are some 1,800 Penans living in eight long-houses along the Murum River who will have to make way for the construction of the dam.

The Star found that the access road into the Murum Dam site has already been paved. The construction of the site office is in progress and the terracing of the hillslopes on both sides of the Murum River is being carried out.

Malaysia’s capital of cronyism - Bloomberg

Written by Yoolim Lee Bloomberg News

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:25

After a stomach-churning takeoff from a 550-meter runway at Long Banga airstrip on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo, the 19-seat plane soars over a green tropical wilderness. This is one of the world’s last remaining virgin rain forests. About 30 minutes into the flight to the bustling oil town of Miri, the lush landscape changes, and neatly terraced fields of oil palms take the place of jungle. Twenty years ago, this was forestland. Now, those forests are lost forever. The shift from rain forest to oil palm cultivation in Malaysia’s Sarawak state highlights the struggle taking place between forces favoring economic development, led by Sarawak state’s chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, and those who want to conserve the rain forest and the ways of life it supports. During Taib’s 28-year rule, his government has handed out concessions for logging and supported the federal government’s megaprojects, including the largest hydropower site in the country and, most recently, oil palm plantations. The projects are rolling back the frontiers of Borneo’s rain forest, home to nomadic people and rare wildlife such as orangutans and proboscis monkeys. At least four prominent Sarawak companies that have received contracts or concessions have ties to Taib or his family. The government of Malaysia plans to transform the country into a developed nation by 2020 through a series of projects covering everything from electric power generation to education. The country’s gross domestic product, which has been growing at an average 6.7-percent annual pace since 1970, shrank 6.2 percent in the first quarter. In Sarawak, Taib’s government is following its own development plans that call for doubling the state’s GDP to 150 billion ringgit ($42 billion) by 2020. Sarawak Energy Bhd., which is 65 percent owned by the state government, said in July 2007 it plans to build six power plants, including hydropower and coal-fired generators. The state government also wants to expand the acreage in Sarawak devoted to oil palms to 1 million hectares by 2010, from 744,000 at the end of 2008, according to Sarawak’s Ministry of Land Development. Companies that formerly chopped down hardwood trees and exported the timber are now moving into palm plantations. A PLANE flies over oil palm plantations, where virgin forest once stood, on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo on April 27, 2009. The shift from rain forest to oil palm cultivation in Malaysia’s Sarawak state highlights the struggle taking place between forces favoring economic development, led by Sarawak state’s chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, and those who want to conserve the rain forest and the ways of life it supports. MUNSHI AHMED/BLOOMBERG MARKETS VIA BLOOMBERG Meanwhile, many of the ethnic groups who have traditionally lived from the land in Sara­wak—known as Dayaks—have filed lawsuits that aim to block some projects and seek better compensation. Sarawak’s ambitions could be hindered by a lack of good governance, which would shut out overseas investors, says Steve Waygood, head of sustainable and responsible investment research at Aviva Investors in London, which manages more than $3 billion in sustainable assets. “Even just the perception of corruption can lead to restricted inflows of capital from the global investment community into emerging markets such as Sarawak,” says Waygood, who wrote about reputational risk in a 2006 book, Capital Market Campaigning (Risk Books). “The largest and most responsible financial institutions are very careful to avoid funding unsustainable developments,” he says. Unilever, which buys 1.5 million tons of palm oil a year—4 percent of the world’s supply—for use in products such as Dove soap and Flora margarine, announced in May that it would buy only from sustainable sources. “Unilever does not source any palm oil directly from Sarawak,” says Jan Kees Vis, Unilever’s director of sustainable agriculture. “We buy from plantation companies and traders located elsewhere.” He says Unilever has committed by 2015 to buy all of its palm oil from sources certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a group representing palm oil producers, consumers and nongovernment organizations that seeks to establish standards for sustainably produced palm oil. The Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a government-supported group of Malaysian plantation companies, is a member of the RSPO. About 35 percent of the world’s cooking oil comes from palm—more than any other plant, according to the US Department of Agriculture. And 90 percent of the world’s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia. The oil is an ingredient used in everything from Skittles candy to Palmolive soap to some kinds of biodiesel fuel. Palm oil futures have climbed 45 percent this year as of August 24 on concern that dry weather caused by El Niño may reduce output. Crude oil prices rose to a 10-month high of $74.24 a barrel, spurring demand for biodiesel. Malaysia lost 6.6 percent of its forest cover from 1990 to 2005, or 1.49 million hectares, the most-recent data available from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization show. That’s an area equivalent to the state of Connecticut. Neighboring Indonesia lost forestland at the fastest annual rate among the world’s 44 forest nations from 2000 to 2005, Amsterdam-based Greenpeace says. “Palm oil is the new green gold after timber,” says Mark Bujang, executive director of the Borneo Resources Institute in Miri, a city of about 230,000 people in Sarawak. “It has become the most destructive force after three decades of unsustainable logging.” While Malaysia’s palm oil exports have more than doubled to a record 46 billion ringgit in 2008 from 2006, according to the country’s central bank, the gain has come at a price. Development projects and palm plantations have displaced thousands of people, some of whom have lived for centuries by fishing, hunting and farming in the jungle. Almost 200 lawsuits are pending in the Sarawak courts relating to claims by Dayak people on lands being used for oil palms and logging, according to Baru Bian, a land rights lawyer representing many of the claimants. A handful of activists have been found dead under mysterious circumstances or disappeared, including Swiss environmental activist Bruno Manser, who vanished in the jungle in 2000. Cutting down rain forests to cultivate palms in Sarawak has consequences far beyond Malaysia, says Janet Larsen, director of research at the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute. The forests that are being destroyed help modulate the climate because they remove vast stores of carbon from the atmosphere. Chopping down the trees ends up releasing greenhouse gases. “These last remaining forests are the lungs of the planet,” Larsen says. “It affects us all.” Chief Minister Taib, 73, has multiple roles in Sarawak. He’s also the state’s finance minister and its planning and resources management minister—a role that gives him the power to dispense land, forestry and palm oil concessions as well as the power to approve infrastructure projects. Until last year, Taib held the additional role of chairman of the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp., which fosters wood-based industries in the state. Anwar Ibrahim, the former Malaysian finance minister who’s the head of the country’s opposition alliance, sees parallels between Taib’s rule and those of other long-standing leaders in Southeast Asia, such as former Indonesian President Suharto and former Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos. “It’s an authoritarian style of governance to protect their turf and their families,” says Anwar, who was fired as deputy prime minister by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and jailed on charges of having homosexual sex and abusing power. The sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004. Sim Kwang Yang, an opposition member of parliament for Sarawak’s capital city of Kuching from 1982 to 1995, agrees with Anwar’s assessment. “It is crony capitalism driven by greed without any regard for the people,” he says. Taib’s adult children and his late wife, Lejla, together owned more than 29.3 percent of Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd., the state’s largest industrial group, with 40 companies involved in construction, property development, road maintenance, trading and financial services, according to the company’s 2008 annual report. Local residents jokingly say that the company’s initials, CMS, stand for “Chief Minister and Sons.” In total, CMS has won about 1.3 billion ringgit worth of projects from the state and the federal government since the beginning of 2005, according to the firm’s stock exchange filings. Taib declined to comment for this article. In an interview he gave to Malaysia’s state news agency, Bernama, on January 13, 2001, Taib said CMS’s ties to him had nothing to do with its winning government jobs. “I am not involved in the award of contracts,” he said. “No politician in Sarawak is involved in the award of contracts.” He told Bernama he doesn’t ask for special treatment of his sons. “I never ask anybody to do any favors,” he said. Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, the elder of Taib’s two sons, is CMS’s deputy chairman and owns 8.92 percent of the firm, according to the annual report. Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, the younger son and CMS’s chairman until 2008, holds an 8.94-percent stake. Taib’s two daughters and his son-in-law are also listed in the annual report as “substantial shareholders.” Taib, a Muslim who belongs to the Melanau group—one of about 27 different ethnic groups in Sarawak—entered politics at the age of 27 after graduating from the University of Adelaide in Australia with a law degree in 1960. He held various ministerial positions in Sarawak and Malaysia before taking over in 1981 as the chief minister from his uncle, Abdul Rahman Yaakub. Rahman, now 81, ruled Sarawak for 11 years. Taib, who has silver hair, appears almost daily on the front pages of Sarawak newspapers, sometimes sporting a goatee and a pair of rimless glasses, at the opening of new development projects or local events. He lives in Sarawak’s capital city of Kuching, an urban area of about 600,000 people on the Sarawak River. Its picturesque waterfront is dotted with colonial buildings, the legacy of British adventurer James Brooke, who founded the Kingdom of Sarawak in 1841 and became known as the White Rajah. Brooke’s heirs ruled the kingdom until 1946, when Charles Vyner Brooke ceded his rights to the UK. Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, along with other former British colonies. At Taib’s mansion, which overlooks the river, he receives guests in a living room decorated with gilt-edged European-style sofa sets, according to photos in the July to December 2006 newsletter of Naim Cendera Holdings Bhd., which changed its name to Naim Holdings Bhd. in March. Naim is a property developer and contractor whose chairman is Taib’s cousin, Abdul Hamed Sepawi. He is also chairman of state power company Sarawak Energy and timber company Ta Ann Holdings Bhd., and is on the board of Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp. and Sarawak Plantation Bhd. Naim and CMS jointly built Kuching’s iconic waterfront building, the umbrella-roofed, nine-story Sarawak State Legislative Assembly complex. Naim has won more than 3.3 billion ringgit worth of contracts from the state and the federation since 2005, its stock exchange filings show. Ricky Kho, a spokesman for Naim, said the company declined to comment for this article. Naim’s deputy managing director, Sharifuddin Wahab, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in July 2007 that the chairman’s family ties weren’t why the company won government contracts. “We have been able to execute our projects on time, we stick to the budget and the quality of what we hand over to the government is up to their expectations, if not more,” he said. “Our teams have always acted professionally” when working with the government, whether on large or small projects, CMS’s group managing director, Richard Curtis, said in an e-mail. “CMS is governed by the strict listing regulations of the Malaysian stock exchange,” he said, adding that the chairman and the group managing director are both independent. “The large projects carry with them an equally large risk, including a huge reputational risk, particularly for crucial projects by the government,” he said. “It is the government’s prerogative and discretion to award projects using a variety of approaches that includes open and closed tenders as well as directly negotiated processes, to the contractors and developers they feel will deliver the project as promised.” Malaysia’s reputation as a place to conduct business has deteriorated in recent years, according to Transparency International, the Berlin-based advocacy group that publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index. Transparency ranked the country 47th out of 180 in 2008, down from 43rd in 2007. Transparency also has singled out the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam, under construction on the Balui River in Sarawak, as a “monument of corruption.” The index lacks fairness, says Ahmad Said Hamdan, chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, because it doesn’t take into consideration the size of the population of the countries in the ranking, for example. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement in civil service in the past 10 years,” he says. Early this year, hundreds of dead fish started floating on the muddy river near the Bakun dam site. The fish were killed by siltation, which was triggered by uncontrolled logging upstream, Sarawak’s assistant minister of environment and public health, Abang Abdul Rauf Abang Zen, says. He says the Bakun dam has very strict environmental assessments and isn’t to blame for the siltation. In January, Tenaga Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state-controlled power utility, and Sarawak Energy said they won approval from the national government to take over the operation of the hydropower project through a leasing agreement. Sarawak Energy also won preliminary approval to export about 1,600 megawatts of electricity from the 2,400-megawatt Bakun project, once it begins operating, to Peninsular Malaysia. The remaining power will go to Sarawak. Taib announced a plan called New Concept in 1994. The aim was to bring together local people, with their customary rights to the land, and private shareholders, who would provide capital and expertise to create plantations. The plan called for companies to hold a 60-percent stake in the joint ventures, the state to own 10 percent and the remaining 30 percent to go to local communities in return for a 60-year lease on their land. That time period equals about two complete cycles of oil palm development. An oil palm typically matures in 3 years, reaches peak production from 5 to 7 years and continues to produce for about 25 years, says Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, a commodities analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Singapore. The policy has led to some disagreements. In his interview with Bernama in 2001, Taib said land acquisitions by the state have led to “emotional” disputes because some people seek too much compensation. “We are not allowed to pay more than market value,” he told Bernama. He said people need to prove that they have traditionally lived in an area—for example, by providing an aerial photograph—in order for the state to grant them title to the land. “If there are disputes, they go to the court,” Taib told Bernama. Some local people say they received no compensation at all for their land. In Kampung Lebor, a village about a two-hour drive from Kuching, 160 families, members of the Iban group that was formerly headhunters, live in longhouses and survive by fishing and some farming. The Iban are Sarawak’s largest single group of Dayaks, who make up about half of the state’s 2.3 million population. In mid-1996, the state handed out parcels of land that overlapped with the community’s customary hunting and fishing areas to the Land Custody and Development Authority and Nirwana Muhibbah Bhd., a palm oil company in Kuching. In mid-1997, the authority and the company cleared the land with bulldozers and planted oil palm seedlings, according to a copy of Kampung Lebor’s writ of summons filed to the High Court in Kuching. “The government is cruel,” says Jengga Jeli, 54, a father of five in Lebor. “Fruit trees have been cut down. It’s become harder to hunt and fish. Now we are forced to get meat and vegetables from the bazaar, and we are very poor.” Jengga’s village filed a lawsuit in 1998 against Nirwana, LCDA and the state government in a bid to get compensation. The case was finally heard in 2006 and is now awaiting judgment, according to Baru Bian, who is representing the Iban in Kampung Lebor. Reginal Kevin Akeu, a lawyer at Abdul Rahim Sarkawi Razak Tready Fadillah & Co. Advocates, which is representing Nirwana and LCDA, declined to comment. The cases show that the development projects, including plantations and dams, haven’t helped poverty among the local people, many of whom live without adequate electricity or schools, says Richard Leete, who served as the resident representative of the United Nations Development Program for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei from 2003 to 2008. “This is the paradox of Sarawak—the great wealth it has, the natural resources in such abundance, and yet such an impoverishment and the real hardship these communities are suffering,” says Leete, who chronicled Malaysia’s progress since its independence from Britain in his book Malaysia: From Kampung to Twin Towers (Oxford Fajar, 2007). “There has no doubt been a lot of money politics,” he says. In the rugged hills about 150 kilometers south of Kuching, some 160 Bidayuh families, known as the Land Dayaks, are clinging to their traditional habitat, while a dam is under construction nearby. They live by farming and fishing. With only a primary school in the village, children have to go to boarding schools outside the jungle to get further education, crossing seven handmade bamboo bridges and trekking two hours over the hills when they return home. The state has offered the Bidayuhs 7,500 ringgit per hectare, 80 ringgit per rubber tree and 60 ringgit per durian fruit tree in compensation for their native land, says Simo ak Sekam, 48, a resident of Kampung Rejoi, one of four villages in the area. In Rejoi, about half of 39 families have refused. “We don’t want to move because we are happy here,” Simo says. “We feel very sad because our land will be covered with water. The young generations won’t know this land. They won’t see the bamboo bridges.” The builder of the local reservoir is Naim Holdings—the company headed by Chief Minister Taib’s cousin. The government awarded Naim the 310.7-million-ringgit contract without putting it out for bids. Naim’s statement announcing the deal in July 2007 said it won the job on a “negotiated basis.” One of the most threatened groups is the Penan, nomadic people who live deep in the jungle on the upper reaches of the Baram River. On a steamy equatorial morning in late October 2007, Long Kerong village leader Kelesau Naan and his wife, Uding Lidem, walked two hours to their rice-storing hut. Kelesau, who was in his late 70s and who had protested logging activity in their area, told Uding he’d go check on an animal trap he had set nearby. He never came back. Two months later, his skull and several pieces of his bones, along with his necklace made of red, yellow and white beads, surfaced on the banks of the Segita River. Inspector Sumarno Lamundi at the regional police station says the investigation is ongoing. It was just the latest tragedy among activists working for the Penan since the early 1990s, when rampant logging took place. At least two other Penan were found dead, including Abung Ipui, a pastor and an advocate for land rights for his village. His body was found in October 1994 with his stomach cut open. Manser, the Swiss activist for the rights of the Penan, vanished without a trace from the Borneo rain forests in May 2000 and was officially declared missing in March 2005. Kelesau’s death has made the Penan willing to stand up for their survival. “We are scared of something terrible happening to us if we don’t resist,” says grim-faced Bilong Oyoi, 48, headman of Long Sait, a Penan settlement close to Long Kerong. Bilong, who wears a traditional rattan hat decorated with hornbill feathers, says his group is setting up blockades to resist logging activities. They are also working with NGOs to get attention for their plight and filing lawsuits. With the help of the Basel, Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund, an NGO set up by the late activist, Bilong and 76 other Penan sent a letter—which some signed using only thumb prints—to Gilles Pelisson, the chief executive officer of French hotel chain Accor SA. The letter urged Accor to think twice about partnering with logging company Interhill Logging Sdn. to build a 388-room Novotel Interhill in Kuching. The Penan community says Interhill’s operations in Sarawak have a devastating effect on them. Accor responded by sending a fact-finding mission to Sarawak to investigate Interhill’s logging activities. “If the worst-case scenario occurs and if no action plan is implemented, we will not continue with our partnership,” Helene Roques, Accor’s director for sustainable development in Paris, said in June. In mid-August, she said she expects “good results” by the end of September. No foreign investor has made a larger bet on Taib’s development plans than Rio Tinto Alcan, a unit of London-based mining company Rio Tinto Plc. A joint venture between Rio Tinto and CMS for a $2-billion aluminum smelter has been negotiating power purchase agreements with Sarawak Energy for more than 12 months, according to Julia Wilkins, a Rio Tinto Alcan spokeswoman in Brisbane, Australia. CMS meets Rio Tinto’s requirements as a joint-venture partner, she says. “CMS is a main-board-listed company with its own board of directors,” she says. “It has a free float of shares in excess of the minimum market requirement. The chairman and the group managing director are both independent.” Malaysia grants special economic advantages to the country’s Malay majority and the local people of Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo, collectively referred to as Bumiputra—literally, sons of the soil. Still, the country is leaving behind many of its ethnic minorities, says Colin Nicholas, a Malaysian activist of Eurasian descent who has written a book about the mainland’s oldest community, The Orang Asli and the Contest for Resources (IWGIA, 2000). One person trying to help the Dayaks is See Chee How, 45, a land rights lawyer who became an activist after meeting Sim, the former opposition member of parliament in Kuching. In 1994, See witnessed an attack on Penan demonstrators who’d erected a roadblock to prevent logging trucks from driving through their land. A six-year-old boy died after security forces used tear gas on the demonstrators, he says. “They were completely powerless,” recalls the soft-spoken, crew-cut See, sporting a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, in his office above a bustling market in Kuching. “They were depending on logging trucks to move around because their passageways had been destroyed by logging trails.” See now works with Baru Bian, 51, one of the first land rights lawyers representing the Dayaks in Sarawak. Nicholas says Sarawak’s people have to fight for their rights not only through lawsuits but by voting. “The biggest problem we have with indigenous people’s rights is that we have the federal government and state government run and dictated by people who have no respect or interest for indigenous people,” he says. “We need a change of government.” The prime minister’s office declined to comment. Opposition leader Anwar says change is possible. His alliance won control of an unprecedented five states in Peninsular Malaysia in a March 2008 election. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition has lost at least four regional polls held this year. “I think this is a turning point,” Anwar says. Still, Taib’s coalition won 30 of Sarawak’s 31 seats in March 2008 parliamentary elections. That helped the ruling National Front coalition led by then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi retain a 58-seat majority, ahead of Anwar’s People’s Alliance. Sarawak is due to hold the next election by 2011. Taib defended his government’s program to turn forestlands into oil palm plantations as a way of improving living standards for the Dayaks at a seminar on native land development in Miri on April 18, 2000. “Land without development is a poverty trap,” he said, according to his Web site. Many Dayak people, who have seen their land transformed as a result of Taib’s policies and companies linked to him, say they are still waiting to see their share of wealth. IN PHOTO -- A PENAN man in traditional garb hunts using darts and a blowpipe on April 29, 2009, in the Sarawak region of Malaysia. Penan people have lived for centuries by fishing and hunting in the forest, but their way of life is now threatened by rampant logging and dam construction. MUNSHI AHMED/BLOOMBERG MARKETS VIA BLOOMBERG