If his name is nominated again, Datuk Henry Sum Agong will contest for a sixth term in the Lawas Parliament.
In fact, for two terms in 1999-2004 and 2004-2008, this former MP led the Bukit Mas Parliament, an area that previously included Limbang and Lawas. The parliamentary constituency was previously represented by Michael Lisa Kaya.
Before parliament was dissolved on last October 10, Henry was the Deputy Minister of Transport, since March 2020. In fact, he also held the post of Deputy Minister of Rural Development II, before that, when the country was still led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister.
Henry was first appointed Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism from June 2016 to May 2018 during Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak’s administration – making him the first son of Lun Bawang to be a member of the Federal Cabinet.
Because of his experience and maturity, this politician with an engineering background should be seen as not just any leader. He is a person with a huge aspiration, and does not give up easily even though he turned 76 years old on February 18.
In fact, his calm demeanour has made him well-liked, especially by Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Deputy Premier of Sarawak, who became the “chief” of the administration in the northern region of Sarawak.
He had won unopposed in the 2004 GE in the Bukit Mas Parliament, and in 2018, he retained his seat in style, when he secured 10,037 votes to defeat the challenge of Danny Piri from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), who only brought home 4,037 votes.
Until the final day as a Member of Parliament, Henry was seen as a loyal, issue-proof person in his area. He is also seen as a diligent person who goes to the field, and solves problems involving the small community in Lawas.
But his real strength is his close relationship with his mentor, Awang Tengah, and Henry always helps him in planning development in the area.
On November 5, Henry is expected to be challenged by another “experienced” political figure. Carrying the flag of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Baru Bian, 64, is expected to move from the seat he won in 2018, the Selangau Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Selangau Parliament is not an actual playground, but was won to take advantage of the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) leadership crisis there in 2018.
Baru Bian is convinced he will not be able to defend the seat that was once controlled by Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun, therefore decided to return to his original playing field.
The reality is, Baru Bian is not new and foreign in Lawas. The first and former Malaysia’s Public Works Minister of Lun Bawang descent is also highly respected by the local community.
As a child coming from rural area, he travelled to many districts and villages to receive education and finally, passed the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 1978, before being appointed to work as a temporary teacher at SMK Medamit, Limbang.
He continued his higher education at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam and obtained a Diploma in Law in 1984, before continuing and obtaining a law degree at Melbourne University, Australia the following year.
He then started his legal practice in Kuala Lumpur, before moving to Kuching in 1987. In 1990, he became a partner in the firm of Messrs Anthony Ting, Baru Bian & Co., Kuching and later in 1992, he opened his own law firm, Messrs Baru Bian Advocates & Solicitors, also in Kuching which operates until now.
Like Henry, Baru is also not an insignificant figure in politics. He was the Vice President of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) from 1992 to 1994, in addition to serving as its Supreme Council Member from 2000 to 2003.
Baru started his political career by challenging Awang Tengah in 1991 in Lawas for state election, before losing with a majority of 3,643 votes.
In September 2004, he ran as an independent candidate in the Ba’kelalan By-Election following the death of the incumbent, Dr. Judson Sakai in July 2004. Again, he lost, and this time to Datuk Nelson Balang Rining.
In May 2006, he stood as a SNAP candidate, and challenged Nelson again in Ba’kelalan state election, and this time he narrowly lost by 475 votes.
After joining PKR in April 2008 and leading it a year later, Baru seemed to get a “new breath”. He contested again in the Ba’kelalan seat in 2011 and won with a majority of 473 votes defeating Willie Liau (BN-PDP).
He faced his nephew again in 2016, and this time won by a margin of 538 votes.
Last year, he increased his majority to 680 votes, defeating Sam Laya (GPS), Pita Asut (PBK), Marti Labo (PKR) and Agnes Padan (Bebas).
In 2013, he ran for the Limbang Parliament to challenge the new face of PBB-BN, Hasbi Habibollah, an engineer. Unsurprisingly, Hasbi was not his opponent when he collected 12,999 votes compared to Baru, 4,698 votes.
Even so in GE-14, he was lucky, when he managed to take advantage of PRS’s crisis to defeat the new face candidate, Rita Sarimah (BN-PRS) in the Selangau Parliament, with a majority of 486 votes. It is a very interesting decision considering that the seat belongs to the Iban majority, while Baru is an Orang Ulu; with the campaign atmosphere filled with elements of sabotage, disputes and revenge.
The ‘colourful’ election results also finally allowed Baru, who was also Sarawak PKR Chairman at the time, to be appointed as Public Works Minister by the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir Mohamad.
In GE-14, Henry won the northernmost parliamentary seat in Sarawak by collecting a majority of 6,000 votes.
At that time, the constituency had 21,297 registered voters. With automatic registration since last January, the number of voters is said to have increased drastically.
And this presents an interesting competition because these two “Lun Bawang dragons” have built “names” at the national level.
On paper, Henry has an advantage as the incumbent, considering the low majority obtained by Baru before, while in the Bukit Sari constituency seat, which was won by Awang Tengah, his majority reached 6,000 votes.
