S’WAK POLLS The push to the Sarawak state election seems to be stuck in low gear, with lacklustre support from the people in the urban constituencies today, the fourth day of the 12-day election campaign.

The DAP, which won 12 urban state seats in 2011, found itself having to to deal with mediocre public turnout situations, especially as it needs to put in extra efforts in the 17 bumiputera-majority seats it is battling for.

This is quite different from the situation in the 2011 state election when an estimated 7,000-strong crowd turned up at the party’s ceramah sessions in Kuching, Sibu and Miri on the first day of the election campaign.

The party also raised ten of thousands of ringgit from the first night of the 2011 campaign.

This time alone, the ceramah that DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang attended in Kota Sentosa saw a crowd of 2,000 to 3,000 attending. And the party was only able to raise RM6,000 from supporters on the first night.

Crowds and donations raised at the ceremah sessions are often used to measure the response and support of the people for a party or candidate.

Entering the second night, a DAP ceramah with no star speaker at a low-cost housing area in Batu Kawah saw only some 500 people turn up. The party managed to raise only RM4,000 at another ceramah held at Travillion, Padungan.

Entering the third night, a heavy downpour in Kuching reduced the crowd to just a few hundreds at ceramah sessions held by PKR and DAP.

It was also on this night that PKR held its first ceramah in Kuching.

Besides the turnouts, the response from the voters was quite discouraging, for the people listened from afar, leaving empty many of the seats put up for them.

Similarly, the DAP sessions in Sibu and Miri also encountered the same problem.

DAP had claimed that 1,000 attended its first night ceramah in Pelawan. However, a check on the ground showed a crowd estimate of 450.

In Miri, the first night ceramah held at Centre Point saw 1,000 people at the event that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng attended, while only 300 and 500 attended the ceramah at the same venue on the next two days.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, members of both the PKR and DAP campaign teams admitted that it appeared very difficult to warm up to the people.

This phenomenon may also be explained from one opinion expressed that the people have lost hope in changing the government after the 2013 general election. Such despair, some of the campaign team members said, was not felt by voters during the 2011 state election.

Banning of leaders too has impacted

Banning opposition leaders from entering Sarawak has also affected the election strategies of the opposition.

The leaders blacklisted from entering the state are well-known for their inspiring speeches, such as DAP's Tony Pua, Liew Chin Tong and Nga Kor Ming, besides Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah Anwar and Tian Chua of PKR.

Without these speakers, the other opposition leaders allowed entry not only failed to secure huge crowds, they were also forced to travel all over the state to campaign for their party candidates.

For instance, following the banning of Liew, who was supposed to lead Sibu election machinery, DAP’s Pantai Remis assemblyperson Wong Mei Ing was forced to take up the responsibility.

Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen and PKR vice-president Dr Xavier Jeyakumar (photo) admitted that barring their party leaders has affected their state election campaigns.

"Firstly, Anwar was jailed. Then, our leaders failed to make it here. You will not see the star speakers and both PKR and DAP will be impacted," said Xavier, who is his party’s Kuching campaign strategy chief.

"Nga Kor Ming cannot come. The crowd will be affected," said Chong.

Then there is the Adenan Satem factor which is also weighing heavily against the opposition's chances. The chief minister is very popular among the voters for advocating state autonomy.

The opposition had fully exploited the excesses of the former chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, in the last state election, to the extent that even the BN candidates in the urban areas had distanced themselves from Taib.

The crowd was responsive when the opposition slammed embattled Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is surrounded by the 1MDB scandal, but was quiet when the opposition spoke about Adenan.

BN candidates in their campaigns tie themselves up with Adenan, whose portraits appear everywhere - on the stages, on the billboards and in posters passed around.

Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) chief Dr Sim Kui Hian praised his Sarawak BN chairman on many occasions.

Adenan is expected to campaign for Sim at a seminar in Batu Kawah tomorrow.