KUCHING: Datuk Seri Doris Sophia Brodie has created history as the first Dayak woman to be elected as member of parliament after winning the Sri Aman parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15) yesterday.
Contesting under the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), she defeated three opponents, including incumbent Datuk Masir Kujat (Independent) , Wilson Entaban of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Tay Wei Wei of Pakatan Harapan (PH) in a four-cornered fight.
The 62-year-old has previously served as senator, having been appointed to the Dewan Negara in 2012, upon which she also became the first Dayak woman to be appointed deputy speaker of the Dewan Negara. She is also presently a political secretary to the Premier of Sarawak.
The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Women chief was among the 14 new faces to contest under GPS ticket in GE15.
She garnered a total of 14,131 votes and unseated veteran politician Masir (5,673 votes), who was also a former PRS leader and a three-term Sri Aman MP since 2008.
In the 2018 general election, Masir defeated Norina Umoi Utot of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Cobbold John Lusoi of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) and won by a majority of 5,820 votes. However, he quit the party to join PSB before deciding to become an independent.
In fact, it was the second time that PRS nominated a Dayak candidate to contest in a general election as the party had fielded a lawyer Rita Sariman Insol to stand in the last general election in Selangau.
She was defeated by Baru Bian, who won the seat with a slim majority of 486 votes on a PKR ticket, despite the seat being a PRS ‘safe seat’.
