Since its creation half a century ago in 1968, the state constituency of Bengoh, known as N10 Bengoh, had always been as intriguing and mystical as the majestic Bengoh range in the background.
It was renamed N19 Mambong in 2015, after a portion of it was sliced off for the creation of a new constituency called Serembu. However, its original name of Bengoh has stuck on to many like the aroma from the wine cellar.
In 1979, SUPP stalwart Stephen Yong, who was unexpectedly defeated by SNAP’s Lo Foot Kee in Kuching Timur in 1974, was searching for a safe seat to re-enter the state assembly.
It was then that Segus Ginyai, SUPP assemblyman for Bengoh since 1969, decided to sacrifice his seat for Yong. But as Yong would discover, the Bengoh seat was not a bed of roses.
Datuk Wilfred Nissom, a young Bidayuh from Bau, resigned from his post as a school supervisor to mount a strong challenge as an independent against Yong. The SUPP stalwart managed to pull through by only a very slim majority.
Yong realised that he could not keep the seat for long because a Bidayuh area had no place for a Chinese representative. Hence, he surrendered the seat to Datuk William Tanyuh, a young Bidayuh lawyer from Kiding in a 1982 by-election which saw little resistance. But Tanyuh lost the seat in the 1983 state election to Nissom, who made a comeback as an independent. In 1987, SUPP dropped Tanyuh in favour of Louis Gines, a senior police officer.
But the SUPP-BN candidate lost the seat to Sora Rusah, a young agriculture officer from Bengoh who stood on a ticket from the newly minted PBDS party. There was apparently kind of a mutual understanding between Sorah and Nissom.
The former helped the latter in the 1983 state election and in 1987 Nissom did not seek re-election to give Sora an easy passage. Then in 1991, it was Sora’s turn not to seek re-election to allow comrade Nissom to stand again, this time on a PBDS platform.
However, Tanyuh remained undaunted. He came back strongly in 1991 to reclaim the seat for BN by defeating PBDS Nissom, albeit by a very narrow majority. The 1996 state election saw Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, a young medical doctor from Karu, vying for the Bengoh seat.
Spurred by the earlier successes of Independent candidate Nissom in 1983 and newbie PBDS candidate Sora in 1987, Dr Jerip decided to try his luck as an Independent candidate. He did vigorous house-to-house campaigns and the votes he garnered on polling day almost knocked out a complacent Tanyuh, the BN candidate.
Before the state election in 2001, SUPP was scouting for a suitable candidate to replace Tanyuh. The young gutsy doctor’s impressive performance in 1996 as an Independent had caught the eyes of SUPP party stalwarts and they decided to rope him in to beef up the party.
On the other hand, Dr Jerip realised that standing as an independent candidate or a STAR candidate (a party which he was briefly associated with) would land him in no man’s land. A realistic dream for him to enter DUN would be through a mighty BN ticket. Hence the deal was sealed!
Ironically, Dr Jerip had to beat his former comrade STAR candidate Dr Patau Rubis, a seasoned politician who was once an assistant minister in the state cabinet.
From then on, he went on to win the seat three times in a row under the SUPP-BN ticket, defeating STAR’s Patau in 2001, SNAP’s Mangan Ngandok in 2006 and PKR’s Willie Mongin in 2011.
The following year witnessed political crisis in two BN component parties – SUPP and SPDP. Dr Jerip decided to go with UPP, a splinter party from SUPP headed by Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh.
He was also briefly associated with Teras, a breakaway party from SPDP headed by Tan Sri William Mawan but then decided to go back to UPP, which remains a BN friendly party.
In the 2016 state election, Dr Jerip was fielded as a BN direct candidate in the renamed seat of N19 Mambong where he defeated DAP’s Sanjan Daik and PKR’s Willie Mongin. UPP, which remains GPS friendly, has recently changed its name to Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
Local politics could be very unpredictable and we cannot tell for sure what the future has in store for N19 Mambong. Rumour mills have it that come PRN12, GPS would not be parading any direct candidates, at least in Mambong and that SUPP has been given the nod to reclaim the seat.
Should that be the case, PSB might have to slog it out as an opposition party and Mambong might see at least a GPS-PH-PSB three cornered fight.
Generally, the fight will be between federalists (those in favour of Malayan-based parties) and Sarawak nationalists (those supporting Sarawak-based parties).
An early Sarawak election will not take place at least a year from now. One year is a very long time in politics. – Terry Tan
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
