SIBU: The battle is supposed to be heating up but Sibu is all calm and peaceful. People are going about their daily chores as if nothing unusual is taking place.
The only tell-tale signs that a by-election is going on are the few posters and banners, maybe 500 or so, hung at certain roundabouts and roads. All else appears tranquil.
It seems the battle for Sibu is a tame affair – but only on the surface. Beneath it, an “underground” war for power and influence is being fought in this business town, situated beside Sungai Rejang.
With its flourishing port and shipbuilding industry, Sibu, with its 54,695 voters, will decide who will be their “taiko” (big brother) on May 16.
Barisan Nasional's Robert Lau Hui Yew is slugging it out with DAP's Wong Ho Leng, with independent candidate Narawi Haron also in the fray.
However, the din of nightly ceramah is absent. There are no well-known speakers present to win over the voters nor campaigners to plot their candidates' strategies. Occasionally, when some big guns did show up, they were able to attract only about 300 people.
In the face of a largely apathetic crowd, the contestants preferred to conduct walkabouts rather ceramah.
But to the main combatants, the stakes are high. In this Foochow land, the fight is all about gaining control of the vast network of local and international businesses.
Built on swamp land, the town, some locals claim, is slowly “sinking” because the foundations of the buildings are not solid.
The ideologies of the warring political parties do not seem to be the core issue nor are national and federal issues raised by the DAP. It appears that the loyalty of the voters is to their employers who invariably work for businesses owned by the Lau family or the family of another taiko who is said to be backing the DAP candidate.
Desperate missiosn
Nevertheless, for the Chinese voters, issues related to economic development and education are their main concerns.
“As long as a political party can deliver, we will be loyal to the party while for our daily bread and butter, we are loyal to our employers,” said a local employee.
Thus, the political rivals will have to do a lot of work to woo Chinese voters whose fate is not bound up with that of their bosses. For them, what they want is development and the party that can deliver it will get their votes.
The Malay voters seem to be a complacent group since most of them are civil servants, with some into small businesses and rubber plantations.
With just four more days to voting, the DAP is in a desperate mission to win over voters whose minds are already made up.
PKR and PAS are not seen much on the campaign trail, which the DAP appears not to mind. The thinking in the DAP camp is that if its Pakatan Rakyat partners show up too often, it might undermine DAP’s attempt to storm the Chinese stronghold.
In the meantime, life is Sibu goes on as if nothing is happening.
Free Malaysia Today
12/05/10
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