2006 Sarawak state election

20 May 2006
All 71 seats in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority
Registered	892,537
Turnout	552,350 (61.89%)
Majority party Minority party Third party   DAP SNAP Leader Abdul Taib Mahmud Wong Ho Leng Edwin Dundang Bugak Party BN DAP SNAP Leader since 26 March 1981 (1981-03-26) 12 February 2001 18 May 2003 (2003-05-18) Leader's seat Balingian Bukit Assek Bukit Saban (lost) Last election 60 seats, 71.2% 1 seat, 8.4% 6 seats, 5.5% (part of Barisan Nasional) Seats before 60 1 6 Seats won 62 6 1 Seat change 2 5 5 Popular vote 341,587 82,134 51,459 Percentage 61.8% 14.9% 9.3% Swing 9.4% 6.5% 3.8%
Chief Minister before election Abdul Taib Mahmud BN Subsequent chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud BN

The ninth Sarawak state election was held on Saturday, 20 May 2006 with nomination day on Tuesday, 9 May 2006. The election functioned to elect 71 representatives to the Sarawak State Assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri in Malay). The eighth state assembly was dissolved by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak, Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng by the advice of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, on 24 April 2006.

On nomination day, Barisan Nasional won two seats without contest.

This election saw 892,537 voters eligible to cast their ballots.^[1]

The previous state election was held in 2001, when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) won 60 out of 62 seats in the eighth state assembly. The Democratic Action Party won one, while another went to an independent candidate. The eighth state assembly's mandate would expire on 18 November 2006, necessitating the calling of an election beforehand.^[2]

Barisan Nasional fielded candidates for all 71 seats:

• 35 seats by United Traditional Bumiputera Party (PBB)
• 19 seats by Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP)
• 9 seats by Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS)
• 8 seats by Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)

A total of 28 seats was contested by Sarawak National Party (SNAP), followed by People's Justice Party (PKR) (25 seats), Democratic Action Party (DAP) (12 seats), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (1 seat). There were 20 independents contesting for 16 seats.^[3]

Background

Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia, comprising 124,450 square kilometers, almost as large as the Malay peninsula. In 1963, Sarawak and Sabah together with the Federation of Malaya formed a greater federation named Malaysia. Since then, Sarawak nationalism dominates in every state election. The people of Sarawak generally resented the control of the Malay peninsula on Sarawak affairs such as autonomy in decision making, dissatisfaction over the 5% allocation of oil royalty to Sarawak, and the tendencies to support local parties in Sarawak.^[4]

Since rural areas dominated Sarawak lands, the control over the rural areas is essential for electoral successes. In the 1990s, deforestation in Sarawak became a major issue whereby logging companies with close political ties to the regime were given large amount of concessions for logging. As the source of timber in Sarawak forests became depleted, oil palm plantations became a priority. The Sarawak government had encroached on the Native customary rights (NCR) lands to convert them into state lands for logging, plantations, and infrastructure developments. In return, the government promised infrastructure projects that can benefit the rural community. However, tenders for the infrastructure projects were also awarded according to party lines. Poverty in the rural areas had fostered dependence on government handouts, thus rural communities showed more loyalty to the government when compared to urban areas.^[4]

Sarawak is ethnically diverse. The Iban people is the largest group, followed by Chinese, Malay, Melanau people, Bidayuh, and Orang Ulu. The Ibans are primarily located in rural areas, the Chinese is primarily located in the urban areas; Bidayuh was traditionally rural but has been increasingly urbanised. Since the 1970s, the chief minister of Sarawak traditionally come from Melanau ethnic group. Similar to Peninsular Malaysia, delineation of constituencies and campaign issues are organised along racial lines.^[4]

Electoral system

Since formation of Malaysia in 1963, Sarawak has hold nine state elections. Since 1979, Sarawak hold state elections separately from the national parliamentary elections. Thus, Sarawak elections become a measure of support of the incumbent government before the next Malaysian general elections.^[4] Malaysian electoral system uses the first-past-the-post voting system, where winners take all. Therefore, Sarawak BN consistently won greater proportion of seats than the share of popular vote. Election Commission of Malaysia (EC) had been alleged to be politically aligned with the incumbent government since 1961. The chairman of EC is appointed by the incumbent government and is answerable to the Malaysian prime minister department.^[4]

Nomination

The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was dissolved by chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. The nomination date was set on 9 May 2006 with campaign period set from 10 to 19 May.^[4] This election also saw larger number of women candidates being fielded by both government and opposition parties. BN nominated six women candidates while the opposition slated four women candidates.^[4] BN has introduced 18 new faces in the election.^[4]

There were only a total of 892,537 registered voters in this election, which was less than a third of the 2.5 million total population in Sarawak.^[4]

Out of 71 seats, only 69 seats saw contests between various candidates. Two seats – namely Daro and Dalat – were won uncontested by candidates from Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu, a component party in Barisan Nasional.

Parties and leaders

Campaign

Polling

On the polling day, 62.6% of the registered voters went our for voting. The election commission spent RM 31 million in this election. They used 3,889 land vehicles, 1,007 boats and 48 speedboats to reach the 1,705 polling centres staffed with 14,571 officers, 71 returning officers and 170 assistant returning officers. Voters from rural areas such as Ba'kelalan and Telang Usan went to polls early in the morning and the polling was stopped at noon with certain polling stations opened for half an hour. DAP, SNAP, and PKR parties were able to put more polling agents to supervise voting counting at polling stations. There was no incidence of violence reported. The polling day was peaceful.^[4]

Results

By 8 pm on the same day, results started to pour in with overall results known by midnight. Barisan successfully captured 61 seats out of 71 seats, but lost a total of nine seats; eight seats to opposition and one seat to an independent. Meanwhile, the opposition managed to captured 8 seats. This was the first time since the 1987 election that the opposition made a significant inroad in a state election.^[4] SUPP, a component party in the BN coalition, is the biggest loser as it lost six seats to DAP in Chinese urban areas. SUPP almost lost all the seats in the Kuching city (Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa, and Batu Lintang) but able to retain one seat Batu Kawah. Meanwhile, twenty one candidates lost their deposits (garnered less than 1/8 of the total votes cast), mostly independents.^[4]

BN was managed to secure 62.8% of the popular vote in this election, a significant reduction when compared to 70.3% in the last election. Meanwhile, the opposition together won 47.2% of the popular vote.^[4] BN experienced a general drop in support from multiple ethnic groups, with the biggest loss of support from the Chinese. Younger generation have more tendency to support the opposition than the older generation. Poorer voters tend to be more receptive of the BN development promises while wealthier voters tend to sympathise the opposition.^[4] BN suffered an average of five percent decline in vote share across all constituencies. BN suffered 19 percent decline in Chinese majority seats, four percent decline in Iban and Bidayuh seats, six percent decline in mixed constituencies, and two percent increase in Malay-Melanau areas.^[10]

According to political scientist Bridget Welsh, the loss of BN support in Sarawak was attributed partially to national issues such as fuel price hike, high electricity tariffs, increased inflation, slowing of reform, and the lack of direction by the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration. As the media become more open under Abdullah administration, voters gain more access to information, including the opposition; thus favouring the chances of the opposition in this election.^[4] Locally, chief minister Taib long tenure in office and his exertion of political power in economy through firms allegedly linked to his family members and associates have raised concerns amongst the voters. Lack of job opportunities in the state led to out-migration of the younger people. The Chinese questioned the voice of SUPP within Sarawak BN. The SUPP handling of land leases involving oil palm plantations was seen as benefiting only a selected few and did not contribute to a wider Chinese community. Factional infighting amongst the SUPP led to sabotage of candidates during the election. DAP was seen as offering a more dynamic range of younger candidates when compared to SUPP which offered only old candidates.^[4]

Controversies

During this election, DAP had made police reports at Opar, Balai Ringin, and Saribas for alleged vote-buying. The opposition also protested on postal votes that greatly favoured the incumbent government. Sarawak BN also used government machinery such as government vehicles and public officials during campaign. Public officials were expected to be rewarded for helping BN during campaign. The Sarawak media were also expected to feature news favouring the incumbent government.^[4] An NGO named "The Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections" (MAFREL) raised concerns on the discrepancies in the electoral roll where voters were registered without addresses, and a case of voter impersonation was recorded.^[4]

Aftermath

After the election, both BN and the opposition tried to build momentum in the next general election, with DAP being more optimistic about its outcomes. SUPP lost the mayoralty of the Kuching South City Council (MBKS) after their devastating defeat in the Kuching city. The mayor of the Kuching South was usually a political appointee from SUPP.^[4]

Johnichal Rayong, who won the N28 Engkilili seat on SNAP ticket, joined SUPP in December 2010, contributed another seat for BN.^[11] Dublin Unting, the state assemblyman for N29 Batang Ai, died at the Normah Medical Specialist Centre, Kuching on 24 February 2009 after a coma.^[12] This resulted in the necessity to call for a by-election. Malcolm Mussen Lamoh later successfully defended the seat for Barisan Nasional. Gabriel Adit Demong previously an independent for N43 Ngemah constituency joined PKR in November 2008.^[13] He later quit PKR and joined Parti Cinta Malaysia in December 2009.^[14] Larry Sng, who won the N54 Pelagus seat for BN, was sacked by Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS) in 2007. Although partyless, Sng is regarded as a loyal member of BN by Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chairman of Sarawak BN coalition.^[15][16]

References

External links

• Malaysian Election Commission Official result of the election.
• BERNAMA More result.