Not only was Moggie a familiar and popular face in Kanowit, he could easily be described as one of Sarawak’s better known Iban leaders, perhaps on par with Sarawak’s first chief minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan.
The Sarawak National Party (SNAP) was the party which gave Moggie a head start in his political career.
The young New Zealand graduate was in the civil service when he was persuaded by SNAP deputy president James Wong Kim Min to enter politics in the early 70s.
Moggie’s electoral debut was in Machan, a state seat within the Kanowit parliamentary constituency. He won the seat easily on the opposition SNAP ticket, defeating a Sarawak Alliance candidate in 1972.
Two years later, Moggie contested the Kanowit parliamentary seat, again on the opposition SNAP ticket. He defeated Barisan Nasional’s Thomas Kana, a fellow Kanowit Iban who was aligned with Parti Pesaka.
The 1974 general election marked Moggie’s stranglehold on the Kanowit seat, which he held on to for three decades until his retirement in 2004.
When SNAP joined Sarawak BN in 1976, then-chief minister Abdul Rahman Yakub appointed Moggie as state minister for local government.
After Moggie defeated Kana for the second time in 1978, he was made a federal minister, thanks to the support of his mentor, James Wong.
However, in 1981 Moggie decided to challenge Wong for the SNAP presidency and lost.
Moggie and his group fought on the grounds that SNAP, as a Dayak-based party, should be led by a Dayak.
It was Moggie’s defeat in the SNAP presidential election that gave rise to what was then known as “Dayakism” in Sarawak.
Moggie and his supporters reacted bitterly to the defeat and decided to form a breakaway party, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), in 1983.
Surprisingly, the party was admitted into BN almost immediately.
Powerful party to minor player
The move by Moggie to form PBDS sounded the death knell for SNAP. Sarawak’s most powerful party at one time was reduced to being a minor player in later years.
SNAP is now permanently deregistered.
Moggie’s action in 1983 understandably angered Wong and those who stood by SNAP.
Wong called him “ungrateful” and a “Judas” who had betrayed the party that launched his political career.
That was the “black mark” on Moggie’s otherwise long and successful political career.
Moggie went on to serve more than 20 years as a federal minister, the longest-serving Iban minister at the federal level.
He is now chairman of Tenaga Nasional Berhad.
Moggie’s protégé, Aaron Aro Dagang, is the incumbent Kanowit MP, though he won under a different party, PRS. The party is a PBDS splinter. However, PBDS has since been deregistered.
Though Aaron is now in his third term, he appears dogged by Moggie’s long shadow and has been unable to garner the same respect and popularity from the Kanowit electorate.
In the 13th general election, Aaron retained his seat despite a tough challenge from PKR’s Thomas Laja Besi and SWP’s Ellison Ludan.
Kanowit is one of six seats under PRS.
Come the 14th general election, Aaron is expected to defend the seat as PRS president James Jemut Masing has confirmed that he is one of four MPs from PRS slated to go for his fourth term.
With Moggie’s influence and support, coupled with BN’s resources, Aaron is expected to win Kanowit again.
Kanowit has a total electorate of 19,433, the majority of whom are Dayak (72%). The Malay electorate stands at 16% and the Chinese at 12%.