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8th August 2004
Following the death of Dr. Judson Tagal, the state assemblyman for Ba' Kelalan, a by-election will be held in September to fill the vacancy. Nominations close on 9th September, and polling will be on 18th September. Peter Howell, the information chief of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, said that four candidates have emerged so far, and that the final decision will be left to Barisan leaders at state and federal levels.
Four candidates have emerged so far:
1. Mutang Tagal, a former Bukit Mas MP, and a younger brother of Dr. Judson Tagal.
2. Dr Bob Baru, a dentist who is also related to Dr. Judson.
3. William Ghani Bina, President of Lun Bawang Association and Sarawak Teachers Union.
4. Dr Roland Matu of Bario Asal, and a medical doctor.
It is learnt that the Sarawak National Party will also be contesting this by-election and has set up a committee to identify potential candidates.
From a purely unbiased point-of-view, all we can say is that the new assemblyman will have his work cut out for him. It will take a really big man to fill Dr. Judson's shoes, and to win the same degree of love, trust and respect from the Kelabit and Lun Bawang peoples!
7th August 2004
We have just heard that a Russian crew, in a Meridian heavy-duty helicopter operating from Bario, has managed to airlift the wreckage of the Hornbill Skyways Bell 206 helicopter that crashed at the foot of Mount Murud. The crash, on 12th July, killed all seven people on board, including Dr. Judson Tagal, state assemblyman for Ba' Kelalan and Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Department.
Initial reports have established that no SOS signal was sent by the helicopter because the antenna cable of the Emergency Locater Transmitter had broken on impact. The wreckage will finally be sent to Texas for a detailed analysis by technical experts from Bell USA.
URGENT NOTICE
We regret we have been unable to provide news for over one year now.
All the news items between November 2002 and June 2003 were provided by just one or two contributors, both of whom now no longer live in Sarawak. No one has sent in any news item since then.
It was hoped that these News Pages would enable Kelabits, wherever they were, to send in information of activities in their area, to inform Kelabits living in other places!
But that can only happen if we participate and send in the news. Kelabit Net can only be as good, or as bad, as we want it to be! Pass the word around. We need your help to make these pages work.
We urgently need new contributors! Any news item of Kelabit events or about individual Kelabits will be welcome, from anywhere in the world.
You do not have to be an expert in writing, journalism or photography. Just send us an e-mail with the basic details as soon as you can about any forthcoming event or immediately after it has taken place.
If you have digital pictures about the event,
When did YOU last send in any news?
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