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'Asajaya' is a name that many people in tune with Sarawak politics will remember for a long time, not so much because of its original name which is Nonok (some people must have been drawn to such embarrassment at the mention of the name that they changed it to Asajaya) but because its wakil rakyat , incidentally a chief minister, decided it to be no longer a 'safe' seat after being its or elected representative for four terms and moved to a much, much safer seat in Balingian.Once, it was rural in every sense of the word - the only way to get there from capital city Kuching was by boat. Today, it is easily accessible, thanks to nicely-paved roads all the way from the city, first to Kota Samarahan and from here there are two options to travel beyond to the other side of Batang Samarahan, to such places as Bandar Baru Asajaya and Sadong Saya (formerly known as Pendam).
The longer route to Asajaya is via the Batang Samarahan Bridge at the back of Kota Samarahan; the shorter route is via ferry across the lower part of Batang Samarahan. The drive is through a scenic countryside mostly comprising coconut plantations (the source of income of the Malays), pineapples and local oranges. One also passes through new aqua-culture farms, in which the Chinese have investments, and many Malay kampungs along the way.
For a long time, the Malays in Samarahan have been depending on growing coconuts for a living. They used to clean the husks, take them by boat along Batang Samarahan and into Sungai Sarawak to Kuching, and sell them to Chinese shops. These days, they can also sell them to the coconut processing factory near Bandar Asajaya. One coconut is sold at 20 sen, reflecting today's supply and demand situation.
It is here in the Asajaya sub-district that there is now a keen battle for the majority Malay votes between two of the three serious contenders - the Barisan Nasional's Abdul Karim Abdul Rahman, a lawyer and political secretary to the caretaker chief minister, and Abang Abu Bakar Mustapha, who is a former Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) deputy president and a former defence minister. The third contender is Keadilan's Abdullah Daraup, a Sibu-based businessman.
Wherever one goes, the Barisan Nasional flags are visible everywhere, along the highway, in Malay kampungs like Tembirat (the largest), outside homes, and new urban centres like Asajaya. In some places Keadilan tries to keep up with their foes. Abang Abu Bakar's banners, however, are not seen anywhere at all.
Is this a new strategy by the Abang Abu Bakar side?
Equal chance
Up to the time of writing, one rating from a traditionally credible source of ground assessment indicates the BN and Abang Abu Bakar as having an equal chance of winning, with Keadilan well behind even though its candidate is hopeful and confident, "largely because even as Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has actually not brought much development to Asajaya".
Abdullah pointed to two major issues in this elections - Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and Taib's failure to fulfill the promise of building a new bridge at the present ferry site.
A Malay farmer in his early 60s would not want to be drawn into saying which of the two more formidable candidates would win. Nor would he say whether Keadilan would stand a chance. "Let's wait till polling day (Thursday). We will know then," was all he said.
But locals who were more forthcoming said it could go either way, indicating that the BN is more likely to have an edge, partly because Abdul Karim, the BN man, is the son of a former assembly representative for the area, Abdul Rahman Hamzah. Abdul Rahman was also Taib's political secretary when the latter was a federal minister in the late 1970s. He was, however, put away for quite a long time under the Internal Security Act for his political activities against both Tun Rahman Yakub and Taib.
Even though Abdul Karim was already a political secretary to the chief minister, his selection as Taib's replacement in Asajaya did not surprise many people who had also expected the resulting sidelining of a higher-ranked aide, Malay lawyer Idris Buang who is chief political secretary to Taib.
Some say Taib's choice was to make amends to Abdul Rahman Hamzah.
But what are the Abang Abu Bakar's issues? Simple, one of his aides said: "It has always been Taib, for what he has done and what he has not done." Abang Abu Bakar's campaign is directed against basically the top BN leadership, especially Taib, and - at what his opponents say - his efforts at marginalisation of the Melanaus, economically and politically, within the BN/PBB setting."
There are some 75 percent Malay voters in Asajaya, about 13 percent Chinese and the rest Dayak. If there is a split down the middle in Malay and Chinese votes, whoever who holds the Dayak votes will get the seat.
TONY THIEN is malaysiakini correspondent in Sarawak