Lau (left) greets residents during his walkabout in Kampung Nangka May 8, 2010
Robert Lau Hui Yew made his first official walkabout today as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Sibu by-election and was greeted by villagers eager to have their problems solved by the local government.
Lau has served as a member of the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) since 2004, and some villagers met at the Kampung Nangka near here have fond memories of his second cousin, Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew, whose death last month paved the way for the by-election.
Kampung Nangka is a small riverside village situated just outside Sibu town and is dominated by the Malay/Melanau communities, which have backed BN strongly in every election since Sarawak formed Malaysia along with Malaya, Sabah and Singapore in 1963.
The village forms part of the Nangka state constituency, home to more than 13,000 of the 55,000 voters in Sibu.
“If he wins, he should be made SMC chairman just like Datuk Robert Lau. We still remember his service, his cousin did very well,” said Majidi Omar, who runs a shop selling coconut products in the village.
Like other villagers met, Majidi has already made up his mind for the coming poll.
“I will support Robert Lau because the late Robert Lau has done a lot for us,” he said, after having showed little interest when asked about the Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) campaign.
“There is no problem here but I told Robert directly he must be the SMC chairman,” Majidi told The Malaysian Insider.
Earlier, he had complained to Lau about the badly paved road in front of his shop, adding that such a problem could be solved easily if the SUPP man leads the local government.
“I am already in SMC, I can push for a lot of things,” said Lau when responding to Majidi’s request.
Another villager, Rosimah Kepli, 44, told Lau she has been having problems getting a business licence from the council.
The trader runs a small stall along the village main road with her husband, Mohd Ali Shahminan, selling local snacks and soft drinks.
“They told us to they can only approve licences for provision shops. I don’t sell sugar, salt or rice so our application has been rejected,” said Rosimah, who suffers from kidney problems and spends more than RM100 monthly for treatment.
Lau then gave her the names of two councillors in charge of the area.
“I can’t look into everything on my own,” said Lau.
Another villager had asked Lau to replace the raised a wooden platform linking the paved road to the riverside houses. The platform is used by pedestrians and motorcycles.
“This is old, built even before 2006,” said Salmah Kusai, referring to the year when Sarawak last had its state election.
“I hope we will get a new one before polling day,” she added.
Salmah told The Malaysian Insider she would continue to back Lau in this election.
“Who else can I vote for?” she asked.
Lau is facing DAP state chairman and Bukit Assek assemblyman, Wong Ho Leng, and independent, Narawi Haron in the by-election.
Nomination took place this morning and polling has been set for May 16.
