KUCHING: The Bidayuh community is duly concerned over the latest political development in the state and their hope is that Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders will be able to resolve the obscurity soonest.
Manyin (centre) flanked by Jussem (left) and Dimin at the dialogue session.
Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin said if the situation remained unresolved then the next two years would be very challenging for them as five of their elected
representatives were directly affected by the latest political development in the state.
“It is going to be a very difficult time for us. Two of our assemblymen namely Datuk Dr Jerip Susil (Bengoh) and Ranum Mina (Opar) formerly from SUPP have now joined UPP (United People’s Party) while Datuk Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru) is with Teras (Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak).
“The biggest problem is when both Teras and UPP are not part of the BN and if this continues until the next state election then it is not a surprise to see SUPP contesting against UPP and SPDP against Teras, which is something we don’t want to happen,” he said.
He told reporters this after having a dialogue with Bidayuh community leaders at DBNA headquarters here yesterday, which was also attended by Datu Ik Pahon Joyik, Kuching Division Bidayuh community leader Temenggong Austin Dimin and a former temenggong Datuk Stephen Jussem.
Manyin said the latest political development in the state was a bit worrying following the emergence of UPP and Teras as it would be not very good for the community and as a DBNA senior advisor he would be meeting all Bidayuh elected representatives here this Friday.
“Hopefully, they all can come. I will tell them to put community first and politics or other things second like what we did in the last state election,” he said.
He recalled that in the 10th state polls all the Bidayuh candidates representing BN were working together as one and helped one another to win irrespective of whatever component parties they came from.
“We were then very united and this is what we should try to preserve for a brighter future of our community. The strength of any particular group does not necessarily rely on their numbers but on how united they are.
“Therefore, as a minority group in the state and country for that matter we cannot afford to be divided,” he said.
Nevertheless, he was confident that the BN leaders at both the state and national levels would be able to find a solution to the issue before the next state election.
The Bidayuh elected representatives are Manyin (Tebedu assemblyman), Datuk Seri Dr James Dawos (Mambong MP), Datuk Roland Sagah (Tarat assemblyman), Martin Ben (Kedup assemblyman) representing PBB; Datuk Seri Richard Riot (Serian MP) representing SUPP; Anthony Nogeh (Mas Gading MP) from SPDP; Datuk Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru assemblyman) from Teras; and Datuk Dr Jerip Susil (Bengoh assemblyman) and Ranum Mina (Opar assemblyman) from UPP.