BN Supporters’ Club rapped for involving community leaders
by Samuel Aubrey. Posted on February 5, 2012, Sunday
KUCHING: The Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) Supporters’ Club has been criticised for involving community leaders in last Saturday’s event to pledge support for the proposed entity.
Frankie Nyombui
Sarawak National Party (SNAP) secretary-general Frankie Nyombui said it was wrong for the BN elected representatives to use community leaders for their own political benefit.
He pointed out that the Community Chiefs and Headmen Ordinance 2004 does not say community leaders could be used for political reasons.
“The Ordinance, which was passed by the State Legislative Assembly in 2004, clearly spells out the roles and functions of community leaders be it ketua kampung, tuai rumah, penghulu, pemanca or kapitan.
“Under Section 6 of the Ordinance, duties of the community leader are, among others, to preside over Native Court cases, look after the welfare of the community, and others, but not to be political missionaries. Otherwise, why pass the law and not use it?” he said.
He was commenting on the 34 community leaders from the Mas Gading parliamentary area pledging their support for the Sarawak BN Club by signing a memorandum of understanding at Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie’s service centre in Bau last Saturday.
According to newspaper reports, the community leaders also attended a dialogue at the same venue.
Also present was Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe, who along with Nansian and three other elected representatives, formed the BN Club as their political platform after quitting the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).
Nansian was quoted in some reports as saying the leaders represented 1,000 people in their area of jurisdiction, who traditionally would follow their leaders. However, not all seem in agreement with the formation of the BN Club.
On Thursday, a former officer in the Chief Minister’s Department, Dominic Daon, claimed Nansian was one of the main reasons he and 60 others were joining the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Frankie said it was the inherent right of Daon and the others to join DAP or any other party.
Nonetheless, he expressed disappointment that Daon did not choose a Sarawak-based party.
Meanwhile, a political observer in Bau, Lawrence Gamjap said he fully supported Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) senior lecturer Jeniri Amir’s statement that the formation of BN clubs to accommodate disgruntled members of BN components would set a precedent. As such, he said the five elected representatives who were formerly with SPDP should just vacate their seats and let the electorate decide on the best person to represent them.
“The group of five can’t sit down in the State Assembly because they are not representing any political body. And is the BN Club even a political entity because it is not registered by ROS (Registrar of Societies)? It is only fair they vacate their seats and contest under the so-called club in the event there’s a by-election,” he said.
Lawrence, a Sarawak representative for election watchdog Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), said the BN Club would confuse the people due to the involvement of community leaders.
“Please don’t drag community leaders into the squabble. It is a corrupt practice to engage community leaders to declare support for any political figures, be them from the ruling parties or the opposition. Community leaders are supposed to be neutral or else they wouldn’t be neutral in discharging their duties,” he said.
Others in the BN Club are Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entrie, Bekenu assemblywoman Rosey Yunus and Batu Danau assemblyman Paulus Palu Gumbang.
