SUPP and Bidayuh - A Sham Marriage

SUPP and Bidayuh - A Sham Marriage Written by Britonger of 97

SUPP and Padawan
When the late Stephen Yong was the MP for Padawan, the Bidayuh people suffered. No development was evident. When Yong Khoon Seng took over, he was a hated figure which lasted a brief term. Again, no physical development was evident. Piece meal developments, if any were, at best staggered, which were negligible and forgettable. The only thing the Chinese representatives were able to do efficiently back then was to provide trophies and gifts for football tournaments. Stephen Yong, the former communist was also famous for sending truck loads of “kien pidea gunyeng”- salted fish, during election to fish for votes. His henchmen would scooped the salted fish by using spades, from on top of a lorry to the poor Bidayuh people, gathering below the truck, with their hands reaching out, like famine victims in Africa begging for food. The Bidayuh political naivety was also demonstrated. It was a naked yet obscene truth that for every five years, Stephen Yong got re-elected over and over again and in return he gave the Bidayuh nothing. The symbol of scourge of neglect and underdevelopment: none other than the famed Padawan road. It was put on record the Padawan road is to be improved as per the 9th M’sia plan. If so, it is indeed a record that a road would take more than 20 years under SUPP leadership to be tarred. A shocking phenomena just as it is real. After every election, Stephen Yong and Yong Khoon Seng benefited while Bidayuh, impeded. Under the BN ticket, the two Chinese live in splendor while the Bidayuh live in squalor.

That was how bad the relationship with SUPP. Old tales would have it that Tun Rahman back then knew SUPP was a hated party amongst the Bidayuh. There was simply no development. Padawan was therefore carved into Mambong and Tarat so that much needed development could be given via PBB. Indeed there were significant developments done thereafter. For Tun, it was killing two birds with one stone. He refused to get SUPP out of Padawan for fear of destabilizing the Alliance and the same time managed to placate frustrating Bidayuh people by allowing the carving of Padawan into Mambong and Tarat. SUPP, a hated party then a hated party now.

SUPP and Serian (MP Richard Riot);
Not even considered a cabinet post in recent Badawi led federal government despite having well proven track record. Unblemished excellent election results. What do you get from Dr George Chan, SUPP president? A formality: “We had submitted his name to PM. It’s PM’s prerogative.” This is an obscure statement, more so, when SUPP have three Chinese ministers appointed to Federal posts. Obviously this point to the fact that Dr Chan had lobbied hard for them but not for Riot. As for prerogative, there is no such thing as unfettered prerogative. This prerogative must be tempered with merit and justice for the Bidayuh people. If Tiki is dropped then Riot is the replacement via merit and justice. Badawi should do this but instead the opposite is true. As for Riot, this is nothing less than sheer degradation. His volte-face to leave SUPP is equally frustrating. For the Bidayuh community, coupled with the fact of Dr Tiki’s demotion, this snub is an insult, bordering on complete and total humiliation. To go one step further this is political annihilation of the Bidayuh. Is this temporary? I hope so.

I have seen nothing to convince me that the current Bidayuh leaders in power have the scrotal gumption to even speak of this injustice in the local papers. The effort of Ik Pahon, current DBNA president, is commendable but Minos, the self appointed social activists has tarnished that effort. With all due respect, nobody listens to him. He is not of respectable voice. Generally, as a whole, present Bidayuh leaders reaction to recent snub by Kuala Lumpur is extremely disappointing. No statement of whatever kind was forthcoming from them. This defeaning silence and inaction merely show their tacit approval of this mistreatment of the Bidayuh people by Kuala Lumpur. A just reward for all the difficult years under Mahathir and Badawi administrations? You readers make up your mind.

On SUPP- Bidayuh relationship as a whole, the inevitable conclusion is that Bidayuh and SUPP have coexisted uncomfortably for the past decades. This is a sham marriage. A façade. A marriage equally shambolic that it should be annulled in the very beginning. It was also a master servant relationship with a large dose of bullying committed by the master. This relationship is seriously hemorrhaging the Bidayuh while SUPP prosper. It is best that SUPP leave the Bidayuh constituency and to be replaced by either a dayak based party, SPDP or PRS.

SUPP, a hated party then, a hated party now. Nothing has changed. A tormentor of a party, an intimidator that oppressed the Bidayuh into a no win situation. The bullying of Bidayuh continues. A raison detre for change.