RANAU: Incumbent Karanaan assemblyman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun delighted a Dusun community here when he joined them in a “moginggat” session while campaigning at several polling centres recently.
A tradition practiced mainly by elderly Dusunic women, moginggat involves the chewing of tobacco, areca leaves and betel nuts.
Since it is rare for men to engage in moginggat, Masidi’s partaking in the practice at the Kampung Podugong polling centre made for quite a spectacle.
“Iti nopoh sigup nga ie minamasi di tokou (this tobacco has helped us make a living),” he said in the Dusun dialect, referring to the importance of tobacco plantations to the highland community, which heavily trades in tobacco.
Masidi, a Dusun who is the Sabah Tourism, Cultural and Environment Minister, said members of the Ranau Dusun community routinely travel for days to reach a major tamu (market) in Kota Belud, where they would sell or trade their tobacco for other products.
Empathising with his constituents, Masidi said that Barisan Nasional (BN) is focussing on ‘white’ or strong supporter areas to campaign for the 14th general election (GE14).
“We realised that we had (previously) focused on ‘grey’ or ‘black’ areas (and) the result was unsatisfactory. So it is better for us to focus on and give credit to safe areas, before shifting to other locations,” he said.
Masidi, who is also Ranau Umno chief, added that the Dusun community must be united in order to strengthen BN’s position so that continuous development can be brought to the state.
In the GE14, Masidi will be facing three contenders from Parti Kerjasama Anak Negeri, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah and PKR.
In the GE13, Masidi won his seat with a majority vote of 3,500.