Tireless torchbearer for Iban rights
By Stephanie Sta Maria, FMT
Ibi anak Uding has taken to wearing white these days. She says it’s the only way to control her fiery temperament which is constantly stoked by the plight of her native Iban community.
To outsiders, Ibi is known as PKR Sarawak’s Wanita chief.
But among her own she is saluted as the Iban torchbearer in her relentless fight for their rights.
And that fight has been a formidable one.
The development that has flowed into Sarawak over the decades has not just bypassed natives living deep in the interior but also encroached into their fundamental rights.
Protests over disparity and injustices are easily muffled by those in power and would have remained silent if not for Ibi.
Seven years ago, an oil plantation company helped itself to Ibi’s land by planting its trees there.
An outraged Ibi was arrested and badly bruised in her attempt to take back what was rightfully hers.
“I lodged a report with Bukit Aman and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and I never heard a single word from them,” she said.
“That’s when I knew I had to continue fighting but on a different platform. So I became a politician.”
Faith and loyalty
Ibi, 49, joined the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) and self-financed her campaign for the Balai Ringin seat in the 2006 state election.
After the seat fell to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Snowdon Lawan, SNAP slowly sank below the political radar screen and went into hibernation.
Ibi was dismayed but decided to wait for a second chance.
That chance came in the 2008 general election. By March 2009, she was among the first Dayaks to join PKR.
In this year’s April 16 Sarawak state election, she was the first Iban woman candidate to be fielded by PKR for the Balai Ringin constituency seat.
Balai Ringin is a two-hour drive from Kuching and is among the nine new state seats created by the Election Commission after the re-delineation of electoral boundaries in 2005.
Ibans form 89.09% of the voters there and as soon as they heard of her candidacy, they came in droves to offer their assistance.
