DAP Sarawak leaders were in Batang Ai yesterday to show our support for the PKR on polling day. We went day before dawn in order to reach Batang Ai early. Sibu team reached there earlier , at around 9:40 am and we went straight to one of the polling station which was a few kilometer from Lubok Antu town. We saw long queue waiting outside the polling centre which was quite abnormal. We talked to a few voters who told us that they have voted already and when asked which party did they choose, they answer without hesitation "memang BN".
We then asked them "ada duit kah?". Some turned away while one woman told me "ngadai duit" but her companion gave her away saying "sepulu aja untuk belanja". I told them that that can not be true because money seems to flow freely in this by election but they kept their mouth shut then.
I told Law Hui Ung, the special assistance to Wong Ho Leng, that the majority would at least be 1000 and above which he agrees readily. He told me that the people gathered there were very suspicious of our group of outsiders and some of them were taking our photos as well.
Our state chairman, who lined up with the other voters jokingly told us he wanted to vote as well. But he and 2 other guys presence were immediately been noticed by some of the voters there and told them " Are you guys making a mistake? You guys are not suppose to vote here." Ho Leng then told me "David, your rocket t-shit is selling our identity away." But I knew that the BN's guys there already notice us before we enter the compound and they do know the outsiders from the locals.
Anyway, we did meet up with our Kuching comrades who were led by our state secretary in Lubok Antu town and we proceed to visit a few other polling centres around Lubok Antu town. At SMK Batang Ai, we were told that 70% of the voters had voted although it was only 12:45pm. That reinforced my believe that the BN 3M (machinery, man power and money) are running smoothly and that the margin of BN's victory would further be increased.
Something note mentioning here is that a few PKR's MPs were at Lubok Antu and joined us in our ride to the polling centres. But not many Batang Ai folks even recognise them at all and they presence were most obviously been ignored by the BN campaigners. But they were the darling of the local media though who surrounded them for their views about the by election in Batang Ai. They were quick to respond that the circumstances and political landscape here is totally different from the peninsular Malaysia.
We then went back to the sleepy town of Lubok Antu at around 1:30pm as the heat, thirst and hunger were catching up on us. There we met James Masing, the chairman of Party Rakyat Malaysia, whose gang of around 12-15 were at the same food stall which we intended to visit. James Masing seen relax and they were still there after we left which shows that they were in no hurry and must be confidence of a victory.
The outcomes of the Batang Ai election did not surprise us at all. Like i said in my last posting here, the results are expected and the people have made their decision. It is their chioce (under any undue influence?) and that was what matter in Batang Ai. The rest of Sarawakians have to come to their sense that "money does matter" and it is money that makes the BN in Sarawak.
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