Elly (front row, fourth right) joins residents of Rumah Musit, Ulu Kemalih for a group photo during one of his ‘meet-the-people’ sessions.
SARIKEI: A SPDP hopeful is optimistic of his chance to be picked as a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Meluan in the next state election.
Elly Lawai Ngalai told reporters here that after visiting about 80 per cent of longhouses across the Julau District, he had been receiving encouraging response from the grassroots during several ‘Meet-the-People’ sessions that he had conducted so far.
Earlier this week, he went to Rumah Mauna Langgat in Masit, Ulu Kanowit and Rumah Musit, Bait in Ulu Kemalih, Entabai, where he was encouraged by the reception of the longhouse folk there and also those from surrounding communities.
“Those who were at the programmes felt really free in sharing aspirations for their communities and the expectations for their elected representative,” Elly said.
Some 200 people from five longhouses in the area expressed their views over a number of urgent issues that had been affecting their livelihood, he said, listing the implementation of proper access roads to their longhouses, extension of treated water supply, connection of electricity supply from the main grid and the upgrade on the communications system, as among the highlighted issues.
Elly believed with his tertiary educational background closely related to environment, he would be the most suitable candidate to represent Meluan in the State Legislative Assembly.
The health, safety and environment (HSE) executive at Petronas Carigali (Sarawak Operations) in Miri holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), a Bachelor in Environmental and Occupational Health from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and a Diploma in Environmental Health from the Public Health Institute, Kuala Lumpur.
Prior to his current position, he had worked as a health inspector under the state Health Department (1994), lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara (2006) and course leader/training consultant at SMTC Miri (2010).
Elly said following the encouraging response from the majority of the Meluan folk, he would plan to cover other areas soon.
“I have been to most areas across of Batang Julau, Merurun, Entabai/Meluan, Entaih and Sengaih. My next focus will be
the longhouses in Mujuk and Kemalih areas,” he added.