Larry to face Jefferson at Bukit Goram, reigniting old rivalry

PBB’s Jefferson Jamit (left) and SWP chief Larry Sng (right)

PETALING JAYA: The new Bukit Goram constituency will be one seat to watch in the coming Sarawak state election as it will see an old rivalry reignited.

A Borneo Post Online article today detailed how the anticipated battle between Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra (PBB) was more than just a battle between the parties’ candidates.

The new Iban-majority seat carved out of the Pelagus seat in Kapit has 11,459 voters, an area that has long been synonymous to the well rooted, wealthy Chinese family, the Sngs.

In the coming state election, SWP chief Larry Sng will most likely go toe to toe against PBB’s Jefferson Jamit, but the battle lines can be traced to 1991, when Larry’s father, Sng Chee Hua took on and beat a young Alexander Nanta Linggi in Pelagus.

The Iban-speaking Sng held the seat from 1991 to 2001.

Nanta, the grandson of the late Tun Temenggong Jugah anak Barieng, is Jamit’s cousin and has over the years risen through the PBB ranks and is now a Federal deputy minister.

Larry and Jamit themselves are to be watched, with Larry having represented Pelagus between 2001 and 2011.

He did not participate in the last state election due to his close relationship with former chief minister Taib Mahmud.

Jamit himself is no greenhorn. The political secretary to Chief Minister Adenan Satem has been active in the area for years as PBB Pelagus branch deputy chairman, helping Nanta service the area.

Despite Larry’s and his father’s ties to the area, it will be an uphill task for him to win the Bukit Goram seat against a PBB candidate, especially since PBB has not lost a single state or parliamentary seat since 2001.

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