Henry sends Baru packing in Lawas
MIRI: Lawas incumbent Dato Henry Sum Agong retained the seat after soundly defeating Parti Sarawak Bersatu secretary-general Baru Bian with a majority of 5,677 votes in the clash of two Lun Bawang political heavyweights.
Henry, 76, who will serve his sixth term as MP, polled 11,361 votes with Baru, 64, garnering 5,684 votes.
Pakatan Harapan candidate, Japar Suyut, managed to secure 1,163 votes.
Returning Officer Ladin Atok announced the results at 9.34pm at the Lawas District Council building, leading to shouts of jubilation from GPS election workers and supporters gathered there.
All the three election candidates were not present for the announcement.
In the 2018 general election, Henry won with a majority of 6,000 votes against Danny Piri of PKR and Independent candidate Mohamad Brahim.
As expected this year, voters in the Bukit Sari state seat had pushed Henry to victory since Baru’s support appears to remain intact in the Ba Kelalan state seat where he is serving his third term as assemblyman.
There are 19,862 registered voters in Bukit Sari, which is represented by Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, and 13,793 voters in Ba Kelalan.
It was sweet victory for Henry where unkind words about his age and performance were hurled at him during the campaign period but the incumbent MP took it in his stride.
He proved that age was no barrier as he remained standing for over an hour on stage in the final hours of the election campaign in Trusan after another one in Sundar.
Baru had won in Selangau in the last general election while he was PKR Sarawak chief.
He was appointed Minister of Works in the Pakatan Harapan government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He become an Independent after the Sheraton move brought down the PH government and later joined PSB where his victory in Ba Kelalan in the last state election led to his appointment as party’s secretary-general.
His team was hoping for a miracle in Lawas as GPS tore into his move from Selangau as failure to face his constituents and attacked his performance as minister and elected representative till the last hours of the campaign.