Nomination, polling dates for Batang Ai to be fixed next Wed

(Suara keADILan) – The Election Commission will decide on the nomination and polling dates for the Batang Ai state seat in Sarawak next Wednesday.

Sarawak EC director Takun Sunggah said a notice from Sarawak state assembly Speaker Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar has been received and faxed over to the EC headquarters in Putrajaya this morning.

The seat fell vacant after assemblyman Dublin Unting Ingkot died yesterday after failing to recover from a coma, prompting a by-election to be called within the next 60 days.

The 56-year old Unting suffered a stroke last May and underwent a three-hour surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. While he survived the surgery, he finally succumbed to the coma.

His death will open up the tightly-held Sarawak state assembly, paving the way for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition to bring their message of reform to the Land of the Hornbills.

While a resource-rich state, Sarawak has large pockets of poverty-stricken masses, who have been down-trodden by the ham-fisted rule of Abdul Taib Mahmud, the BN chief minister famed for his opulent tastes and fabulous lifestyle.

Batang Ai itself is a rural constituency in the northeastern part of Sarawak, close-by to the Indonesian West Kalimantan border.

Unting, a vice-president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak, had defeated Nicholas Bawin Anggat from Snap in the Iban-majority seat at the 2006 state election. He polled 3,295 votes against Bawin’s 2,489, scoring a majority of 806.

Bawin has since joined PKR and is the party’s state vice-chairperson.