Ningkan, Sarawak’s first chief minister, was born in Betong on Aug 20, 1920.

It was also in Betong that he founded the Sarawak National Party (SNAP), a major player in Sarawak and national politics until a damaging internal struggle put paid to the party’s fortunes in the early 1980s.

Betong, which forms part of the greater Saribas area, was the stronghold of Ningkan and SNAP in Sarawak’s post-independence era.

Betong division, formed on March 26, 2002, is the smallest of Sarawak’s 12 administrative divisions, with a total area of 4,180 sq km.

But despite its size, the pace of development in Betong is among the fastest in the state as the division is well-planned to suit the needs of the locals, according to former Sarawak chief minister and now governor Taib Mahmud.

What is happening in Betong today, Taib said recently, is a classic example of what could happen when a leader visualises, plans and develops the place, with strong support from the people.

He believed the population of the Betong division would hit 100,000 by 2030 following the implementation of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

Taib said the rapid development had also had a positive impact on the multiracial populace who have lived in harmony for a long time.

In the Betong political arena, Ningkan held on to the state seat of Layar in the district from 1970 till 1974.

He was unsuccessful in the 1974 general election as the opposition SNAP candidate, and was defeated in the Betong parliamentary constituency by BN/Pesaka’s Wairy Leben Kato.

The defeat forced Ningkan into retirement.

Ningkan’s departure from Betong politics saw the emergence of a young Iban schoolteacher, Alfred Jabu Numpang, who went on to serve as Sarawak’s deputy chief minister for three decades.

Jabu won the Betong seat in 1982 but served only one term as its MP before handing it over to his protege, Douglas Uggah Embas.

Among the Ibans in Sarawak, Jabu and Uggah are known as the community’s more successful politicians.

Uggah, still Betong’s incumbent MP, has held the seat for seven consecutive terms.

During this long tenure, he served in Kuala Lumpur as parliamentary secretary and deputy minister. He ended his federal service as plantation industries and commodities minister.

Uggah returned to Sarawak in 2016 and successfully contested the Bukit Saban state seat in Betong.

He was appointed as one of Sarawak’s three deputy chief ministers after the state elections, replacing Jabu as a Pesaka representative in the state cabinet.

Uggah has no personal baggage, which is one reason for his popularity among the electorate and entrenchment in the Betong district.

His seven terms as Betong MP saw him returning unopposed twice. His electoral majority in the previous two elections were in double-digit figures.

Uggah is expected to make way for a new face in Betong come GE14 as he is now in the state cabinet.

Whether it is Uggah or a new candidate, another BN/PBB victory is quite clear on the horizon in Betong.