In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
– George Orwell, English novelist and essayist, journalist and critic
Bukit Semuja is a hot seat, not because of anything to do with the incumbent John Ilus, but because it proves to be quite an end-game for the oppositions.
Right now the oppositions vying for the right to contest it are the DAP and PKR.
Nothing is yet heard of other interested parties. Perhaps they are quietly interested because they are weighing the pros and cons — especially the cons.
You see, Bukit Semuja does not look too kindly on small players.
Right now only the big players are playing — the DAP and PKR.
DAP thinks it should contest it because the party contested there before.
PKR thinks DAP does not deserve to contest Bukit Semuja because it failed the last time.
Besides, PKR feels DAP’s candidate is no longer “saleable”, having contested too often and beaten resoundingly each time.
While the oppositions engage in a war of incrimination, one thing looks certain is John Ilus will defend the seat that he delivered to BN in 2016 as a BN direct candidate.
John had done pretty well as the assemblyman for the seat that was created only in 2015, the third after Tebedu and Kedup, within the Serian parliamentary seat.
Three years into his first term, John knows his strengths and weaknesses. He has got his network in place and he knows his No. 1 ally — seven-term Serian MP Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem.
John was one of Riot’s commanders in GE14, come PRN12, Riot should be by his side. If they work like they did in GE14, Bukit Semuja will be won in style.
At times, Bukit Semuja does present a prospective hunting ground for the opposition parties because of its racial composition — Bidayuh 6,500 votes, Chinese (2,900) and the Iban (1,700).
Chinese-based DAP often considers the Chinese votes its own much like the PKR thinks the Iban voters have long fallen in love with party — for whatever reasons.
Their trick is the same — pick a Bidayuh for the majority votes and consider the Chinese votes (in the case of the DAP) or the Iban votes (in the case of PKR) their fixed deposit.
But if the DAP had tried its luck in Bukit Semuja, therefore should know where it stands, PKR remains an unknown quantity.
Still, PKR continues to pile pressure on DAP in Bukit Semuja, claiming it stands a better chance of unseating John.
In the state election of 2016, PKR was already saying it wanted Bukit Semuja, a seat just created the year before.
However, all those claims of the party enjoying growing support in the area and of having a better candidate failed to convince the opposition leaders at that time that PKR Bukit Semuja was election ready.
Besides election results in neighbouring Tebedu did not speak well of PKR.
In 2011, Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong garnered 6,196 votes to beat his nearest rival PKR Christopher Kiyui who polled 2,130 votes in a four-cornered fight.
In 2016, Manyin once again handed PKR a devastating defeat when he polled 7,357 against Alex Saben Nipong’s 1,164 in a straight fight.
Consequently, in GE14 the candidacy fell back on DAP’s seasoned campaigner Edward Luak, who had taken on BN’s Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem in the previous General Election.
He garnered just 6, 343 votes to Riot’s 19,494 in 2013 but did slightly better in 2018 when Pakatan Harapan led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad toppled the BN government.
Edward managed to better his 2013 count when he garnered 7,640 votes to Riot’s 17,545.
Considering the fact that Putrajaya had fallen, Edward’s vote improvement in his second try at the Serian parliamentary seat did not amount to much, which however did not dissuade the PH leaders from fielding him in 2016 state election.
Obviously, the PH people thought Edward was still their best bet compared to PKR Bukit Semuja deputy chairman Reginald Abel, who remains untried until today.
But their best wasn’t good enough. Edward was soundly beaten by BN direct candidate John Ilus 5,451 to 2,307 votes.
Three other candidates trailed in the distance — Independent Frederick Bayoi Manggie with 1,196 votes, PBDS Baru Cobbold Lusoi (133 votes) and STAR Johnny Bob Aput (53 votes).
Cobbold and Bob lost their deposits.
Bob went through another loss at the ballot box when he contested at the Tanjung Datu By-Election on Feb 18 2017.
He garnered just 108 votes and some months later collapsed and died.
Not quite long after Bob’s passing, Cobbold, too, passed on. That was last March 7.
That’s why to me Bukit Semuja is a hot seat — an extremely hot seat.
