1970 Sarawak state election


The first Sarawak state election was held from Saturday, 10 May 1969 and scheduled to be completed on Saturday, 7 June 1969 which lasted for 4 weeks and was carried out in staggered basis. This was due to the lack of transportation and communication systems in the state at that time. The state election was held at the same time as the 1969 general election. The Dewan Rakyat of the Malaysian Parliament and all the state assemblies were dissolved on 20 March 1969, except for Kelantan and Sabah. The nomination date was set on Saturday, 5 April 1969. However, because of the riot occurred during 13 May incident and the declaration of emergency and the promulgation of Emergency Ordinance No. 1 of 1969 on 15 May 1969, all the ongoing polls were suspended until 1970. During when the suspension was enforced, polling in 9 out of 48 constituencies in Sarawak had started. None of the elections in Sarawak was completed at that time.

Background

Prior to 1969 election, a political party was suspended from contesting in general election. The political party later mounted a public campaign calling the voters to boycott the election. The Sarawak parliamentary and state election was resumed from Saturday, 6 June 1970 to Saturday, 4 July 1970. During the resumption of the election, there was a tragedy in Sarikei in the third division of Sarawak on 29 June 1970. The communist terrorists had killed three election officials on their return journey after completing polling at a station. There was also an incident where a land mine was exploded outside the polling station in the same division.
This election saw 332,373 eligible voters after the first registration in Sarawak. Of these eligible voters, 26% were the Malays, 28 were the Chinese, and 46 percent were from Dayaks. The turn up rate of voters was 80.0%, which was considered high as compared to other states in Malaysia. A total of 221 candidates were contesting for 48 state seats in Sarawak. The breakdown of number of seats were:
There were 66 independent candidates vying for the seats.

Results

Summary

As a result of Parti Bumiputera-SCA alliance, SCA received majority of its votes from Malay voters. Meanwhile, Dayak parties only attracted 37.6% of the vote although the Dayak people made up of 46% of the electorate.

Results by constituency

The full list of representatives is shown below:
No.State ConstituencyElected Council Negri MembersElected Party----
Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | [Parti Parti Pesaka Sarawak|Pesaka Sarawak|Pesaka] 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1Alliance 15 | SNAP 12 | SUPP 12 | Pesaka 8 | IND 1
S01LunduChong Kim MookSUPP----
S02BauOng Ah KhimSUPP----
S03Kuching BaratCheng Yew KiewAlliance----
S04Kuching TimorStephen K.T. YongSUPP----
S05SemariangAjibah AbolAlliance----
S06SekamaSim Kheng HongSUPP----
S07SebandiIkhwan bin Abang Haji ZaineiAlliance----
S08Muara TuangMohamad MusaAlliance----
S09Batu KawahChong Kiun KongSUPP----
S10BengohSegus Anak GinyaiSUPP----
S11TaratNelson Kundai NgarengSNAP----
S12TebakangMichael Ben Ak PanggiSNAP----
S13SemeraLee Thiam KeeAlliance----
S14GedongAbang Haji Abdul RahimAlliance----
S15Lingga-SebuyauDato' Penghulu Tawi SliPesaka----
S16SimanggangNelson Liap KuduSNAP----
S17Engkilili-SkrangSimon Dembab MajaPesaka----
S18Ulu AiDavid Anak JemutSNAP----
S19SaribasKihok bin AmatAlliance----
S20LayarDato' Stephen Kalong NingkanSNAP----
S21KalakaWan Alwi bin Tuanku IbrahimPesaka----
S22KrianDunstan Endawie EnchanaSNAP----
S23Kuala RajangDato' Haji Abdul Rahman Ya'kubAlliance----
S24RepokKhoo Peng LoongSUPP----
S25Matu-DaroAwang Hipni bin Pengiran AnuAlliance----
S26BinatangAnthony Teo Tiao GinSUPP----
S27Sibu TengahChew Kim PoonSUPP----
S28Sibu LuarWong Kah SingSUPP----
S29IganLing Beng SiongAlliance----
S30DudongKong Chung SiewSUPP----
S31BalingianMohd. Pauzi bin HamdaniAlliance----
S32OyaVincent Ferrer SuyongAlliance----
S33PakanMandi Anak SanarPesaka----
S34MeluanGramong Anak JelianSNAP----
S35MachanThomas KanaPesaka----
S36NgemahLias Anak KanaIND----
S37SongNgelambong BangauSNAP----
S38PelagusBennet JarrowPesaka----
S39BalehKenyan Anak Temenggong KohPesaka----
S40BelagaNyipa KilahSUPP----
S41TatauAwang Ismail bin Pg. ZainuddinAlliance----
S42KemanaAhok Anak JalinPesaka----
S43SubisFrancis LokeSNAP----
S44MiriChia Chin ShinAlliance----
S45MarudiEdward Jeli Anak BlayongSNAP----
S46Telang UsanBalan SelingSNAP----
S47LimbangDato' James Wong Kim MinSNAP----
S48LawasAwang Daud bin Awang MetusinAlliance----

Aftermath

The prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak invited SUPP to join the Sarawak Alliance a month before the election to form a coalition government as SNAP previously did not have a good relationship with the federal government. SUPP eventually followed the federal preferences to form a coalition government with Parti Bumiputera. This enables the coalition to secure a total of 27 out of 48 seats in the Sarawak Council Negri. SUPP joined the coalition government as an equal partner with Parti Bumiputera, where both parties signed a letter of understanding on the composition of the new Sarawak government cabinet. Abdul Rahman Ya'kub was nominated as chief minister with Stephen Yong and Simon Demak Maja as deputy chief ministers. SCA was excluded from the Sarawak cabinet positions after the elections.