It’s not often that you are able to catch Member of Parliament Baru Bian at play. I have been looking high and low for the Lun Bawang Member of Parliament for Selangau since my last interview with him at the New Sarawak Tribune office just before the May 9, 2018 general election (GE14).
I had the opportunity to meet him at the launch of the Pan Borneo Highway for the Telok Melano-Sematan segment on January 26 but could not keep the appointment.
I had a lot of questions to ask this controversial politician who for 30 years had been a thorn in the side of former Sarawak Barisan (BN) coalition.
Venturing into politics in 1987, Baru joined the Dayak-based Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) and rose to prominence when he became the champion of the Sarawak native customary cause.
He was singled out as a “bad boy” when he took on the most powerful six timber barons fearlessly. He eventually became legal advisor of environmental groups such as Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) and had the support of Swiss-based Bruno Manser Funds (BMF).
So it was God’s providence that enabled me to bump into the high-profile Minister of Works at the Kota Samarahan Golf and Country Club (KGCC) when he was having a round of golf two days ago.
Golfing is similar to farming! If you play well, you trim the grass and if you don’t, you hack the ground like a farmer and make a fool of yourself.
But like most hill tribes, the Lun Bawang and Kelabits are talented sportsmen and Baru is not hacker. Like many of his relatives, his cousin the late Balang Lasong was a three-time gold medallist in the South East Asian (SEA) Games while his peers like James Yakub and Anthony Besar, excelled in rugby and soccer.
In his climb to the top, Baru had honed his skills in politics and all of this had been possible because of the trials and tribulations of the son of a poor farmer.
When Baru started out in life – Baru is the Malay word for new – he was an angry man because of society’s indifferent attitude towards poor natives.
A principled politician with strong Evangelical Christian roots, Baru has spent a lifetime fighting for the rights of the ordinary native, some of whose ancestors have tilled the land and harvested the forests for generations.
Baru’s rise to fame is no less amazing. He started his career in politics when he returned from Australia as a qualified 29-year-old lawyer and joined Dayak-based Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).
Two years later he contested against powerful Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hasan in Lawas but lost badly. This was his first loss.
It was a demoralising blow for the political greenhorn, but he would regain his composure and 15 years later he challenge BN’s Nelson Balang Rining in the Ba Kelalan by-election following the death of Dr Judson Tagal in a helicopter crash. Baru lost in his second contest.
A stubborn man, Baru contested the 2006 state election again against Balang Rining, a Lun Bawang from Ba Kelalan, but lost a third time.
With this loss Baru decided to call it quits until he joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in 2009 and was appointed as the chairman of PKR Sarawak.
A revitalised Baru won his first election in 2011 when he defeated Ba Kelalan BN candidate Willie Liau by a narrow 473-vote majority.
By now the natives in particular began to notice this stoic and relentless politician who had won the Rumah Nor Nyawai case in Sarawak High Court 10 years earlier. This was the first time in the history of Malaysian courts that NCR rights was upheld.
After publishing his memoir “The Long Awakening” in 2014, a book based on his struggle to defend native customary rights, Baru’s “cause celebre'” attracted the attention of the heir-apparent to the Sarawak chief ministership Tan Sri Adenan Satem.
In 2015, Adenan invited Baru Bian to join BN. However, he declined the offer because he would not abandon the PKR cause and his colleagues who had placed much hope on his leadership.
If Sarawakians thought that Baru was happy with his lot, they were wrong because he wanted to be a voice for Sarawak in the Federal parliament.
In 2013, Baru contested in the Limbang parliamentary seat against the Lun Bawang countryman and incumbent Datuk Henry Sum Agung but lost.
In the 2016 state election Baru consolidated himself as a trusted leader of quality by the Pakatan Harapan coalition. Even though he lost to a political veteran, Baru proved that he was more than capable when he beat Willie, a distant cousin, for a second time with an increased majority of 538 votes.
During GE14, against all odds, the Lun Bawang lawyer contested for the predominantly Iban-majority Selangau seat against Parti Rakyat Sarawak’s Rita Sarimah and won.
When he was sworn in on July 2, 2018, Baru was sworn in as the Minister of Works, making him the first full-fledged Lun Bawang federal cabinet minister. It was just the beginning of his duty towards the nation.
It came when he co-launched Pan Borneo Highway’s Telok Melano-Sematan segment together with Chief Minister Datuk Patinggu Abang Johari Tun Openg on January 26.
Appreciating the fact that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had chosen Baru to be in his new cabinet, Abang Johari thanked the former for putting Sarawak first before himself.
Abang Johari reminded Baru that “if Peninsular Malaysia has beautiful roads, Sarawak too must have good roads too.”
But he also reminded Baru that Adenan Satem had complained that after almost 60 years of independence, it was still a back-breaking drive to and from Lawas into the remote interior where land communication was poor.
Indeed with its potholes on a partially gravelled 200-km timber road winding through the idyllic countryside, Lawas is still a district where buffalos and Hill Billies roam.
The chief minister’s comments were conciliatory when Baru was made the Works Minister: “We are very grateful that after Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof (the ex-minister of works) they appointed Baru Bian to succeed him.
“Being a Sarawakian he (Baru) knows best our limitations. Forget about our parties…(conflicts and problems) we must put Sarawak’s affairs above political differences.”
He said Sarawakians were very fortunate that the Pakatan Harapan government appointed a local because he understood the problems on the ground.
Now the onus is on Baru to deliver the goods.
The ball is in his court.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
