New voters from longhouse exercise right to choose govt

KANOWIT: Four seemed to be the lucky number for Bantin Kanyan who is among the new voters casting their votes at SK Nanga Ngungun polling station here yesterday.

The 55-year-old said he had applied to register as a new voter three times before, but failed each time.

“The fourth time I registered was in July last year. It was done online together with 10 other residents from my longhouse (Rh Genam Dunggau).

“All 11 of us succeeded in our application but then we were still unable to cast our votes during the 12th state election as the Election Commission (EC) only used the electoral roll up to Nov 2, 2021,” he said.

Bantin said he went to the station around 9am, and the process from registration at the counter to casting his ballot paper into the ballot box took about 30 minutes.

“I feel happy that finally I am able to vote. I hope the party or coalition that wins the election will continue to help rural folk like us as they have promised during their campaign,” he said.

For Mathieus Empana,

21, he hoped the elected representative would not sideline youths in rural areas in their development agenda.

He said the implementation of automatic voter registration and Undi18 provided a platform for youths in both urban and rural settings to participate in a democratic process.

“I would be elated if the candidate that I voted for won the election. If he doesn’t win, it is still okay.

“But whoever wins the election, do not forget about us rural youths,” he said.

Similar to Bantin, Mathieus also registered himself as a voter online in July last year.

Rohana Duran, 35, from Rh Benjamin Munan and Ellissa Mujan, 20, from Rh Muyan Maringgai also voted for the first time yesterday.

Both were registered as voters under automatic voter registration.

Rohana was among five earliest voters who arrived at the polling station.

“My mother and I started walking from our longhouse at 6.30am and arrived at the station about 10 minutes later.

“We came early because my mother asked me to join her,” she said.

She said she is aware of the dos and don’ts at the polling station and the voting process.

“I saw a video on TikTok banning the use of handphones inside the voting stream, so I left my handphone at home,” she said.

For Ellissa, she hoped the country, especially Sarawak, would continue to prosper under the new government.

“I hope for a stable and strong new government,” she said.

Bantin (left), Mathieus (seated front right) and their fellow longhouse residents who had voted for the first time.