Does the original birthplace or even ethnic background of a candidate count in a general election?

This is the poser on Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Fadillah Yusof raised by Keadilan's Wan Zainal Abidin Wan Senusi to the predominantly-Malay electorate in the Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency in Kuching.

At first Wan Zainal, born in Kuching to a Malay mother from Parit Lama, Kuching, and a Malay father from Kampung Pendam, Samarahan 53 years ago, wanted to avoid raising the subject of the original birthplace of his opponent, Sibu-born Malay/Melanau Fadillah (photo).

In Keadilan's first ceramah at Kampung Datus, he told the crowd that he did not want to talk about problems within the Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) over the choice of the BN candidate for Petra Jaya, saying it was their own affair.

Rohani's mistake

But after a local newspaper report quoting Rural Development Ministry parliamentary secretary Rohani Karim (who was returned unopposed in the Batang Lupar parliamentary constituency) as giving 'wrong information' about his original birthplace, Wan Zainal decided to talk about it last night.

Rohani had said Wan Zainal was not originally from Kuching but from Sadong Jaya.

Rebutting the statement, Wan Zainal (photo) told a large crowd at Kampung Gita, Matang, last night that he was born in Kuching and that his mother is from Kampung Parit Lama and his father from Kampung Pendam Melayu, Samarahan, "... not Sadong Jaya, an area created by (Chief Minister) Abdul Taib Mahmud."

He said he spent three years in Kampung Pendam and another three in Simunjan and was raised for 47 years in Kuching.

Wan Zainal also decided to speak out on what he described as Taib's decision to pick lawyer Fadillah, who is also PBB youth secretary and brother of a well-known Melanau businessman Bustari Yusof, over PBB Satok division deputy chairperson Ibrahim Baki, also a lawyer.

"They are both my friends, but I feel that since Ibrahim is more senior, he should have been selected. I sympathise with Ibrahim," he added.

Taib had earlier defended the decision, saying anyone considered capable, no matter their place of origin, should be given a chance to contest in a new place.

Nasi bungkus

In the final furlong before polling on Sunday, the focus of Keadilan campaign has largely been on Taib's leadership, describing it more as "autocratic than democratic." They point to projects, particularly those on kampung land without titles or leases, that allegedly benefit "cronies and family members more than anyone else."

In Petra Jaya, as elsewhere in Sarawak, BN posters have outnumbered those of the opposition and independent candidates.

Commenting on this, Wan Zainal questioned why the BN was prepared to spend "a few hundred thousand ringgit on tons of posters"but were only prepared to give out nasi bungkus (packed rice) to flood victims in the state recently.

According to him, based on official records, 950 families comprising some 10,000 people were affected by recent floods in the Kuching Division. In addition, 121 schools were forced to be closed "not for two to three days but longer because it took time to clean up the mud." Four lives, including one in Malihah, Matang near Kuching were lost.

Causeway issue

Wan Zainal claimed that two causeways at Bako and Bintawa/Pending with a barrage in between them had blocked the natural flow of water, causing the heavy floods.

He said the best thing to do was to demolish the two causeways and build bridges instead to prevent further damage to properties in the future. According to him, the land value in the area had gone down after the floods.

"Look at Kampung Gita. Here someone told me a house that could fetch some RM300,000 before the floods, But you cannot find a willing buyer for more than two-thirds the price now."

He claimed that the causeways and the barrage had been built to benefit certain powerful business groups now involved a real estate property development in the peninsula across the second causeway at Bintawa/Pending.