This image, taken from Musa’s Facebook page, shows him casting his vote last Saturday.
KUCHING: The fear of being left out from receiving government grants, subsidies and other minor development projects is believed to be the major factor that influenced rural voters against supporting the opposition in the just-concluded state election.
This was said by defeated PKR candidate for Tarat, Musa Ngog, who claimed many of his friends and relatives had disassociated themselves from him during the campaigning period because of such fear.
The Puncak Borneo PKR Youth chief also alleged that he had been asked by some voters to give them money in return for their votes.
Claiming that they told him that they expected the same token as provided by Barisan Nasional (BN), he said he countered by saying he could not meet such request due to limited funds.
“I lost more than half of the total votes in my own village, I even lost votes from my own relatives. I lost badly in Dunuk, the place where I grew up, as well as Bisira where I have cousins and close relatives from my father’s side. I also lost half the votes in Marakep, the origin of my father. On top of these, I lost in all the rural polling districts.
“I saw fear and uneasiness in my cousin’s face when I visited them to ask help putting up posters and banners. They feared being sidelined from all the goodies and assistance given by BN. Indeed, poverty doesn’t have its power to make a change since fear is always the enemy of change,” he wrote in his Facebook page bearing the name Musa Ngog TBS last Sunday.
Musa’s tally of 3,029 votes was not enough to unseat incumbent Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, who garnered 8,450 votes in a straight fight.
He recalled an incident where he was allowed only 15 minutes to do a walkabout in one village, in which PKR was barred from putting up posters and banners.
During another occasion, he alleged, one of his campaigning personnel who came from the peninsula was intimidated and asked to leave a village.
“I see oppression, arrogance and disrespect over mere politics of the Umno-led Barisan. Throughout the campaigning period, I saw fear, oppression, ignorance as well as greed and arrogance among those who live in poverty. Yet we marched on, putting a brave face and love (for our people) because we cannot leave them behind (the development agenda).
“Till then, I will never get tired nor lose my faith. This is not about the election itself, but a long struggle to plant hope and making a change,” he continued.
Musa expressed his gratitude to the 3,024 voters who supported him, who he believed were church members, former classmates, friends and relatives who believe in fairness, justice, liberty, good governance and were bold enough to make a change.
Meanwhile, Bill Kayong, the defeated PKR candidate in Bekenu, was reported yesterday as claiming that BN won because of money politics.
He believed the ruling coalition did not deserve their victory because they had tainted democracy with vote buying.
According to him, what saddened him the most was that parts of the rural constituency there were still lacking proper road access and utilities.
He lost to incumbent Rosey Yunus in a three-cornered fight.
On the other hand, election watchdog Pemantau Sarawak expressed concern over an alleged massive money politics in the Tasik Biru constituency since the start of the campaigning period on April 25.
One of its team members Lena Hendry was reported as saying last Saturday that residents in Bau district recounted being given money to attend certain political events and were even told who to vote.
She claimed that the Pemantau team members also witnessed people receiving RM30 each after attending such political events.
Lena also said her team members had noted that, for certain candidates, the events could not possibly have been held without violating expenditure limit of RM100,000 as allowed by Section 19 of the Election Offences Act, 1954.