KUCHING, April 3 – Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN), which has been in “touch and go” mode since the 2011 state election, is all set to face the 13th general election, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud today. He said the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat would enable the Sarawak BN election machinery to fully focus its energy to ensure that BN would continue to rule and safeguard the country’s sovereignty under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“Yes, I am excited about the announcement (on the dissolution by the prime minister) and its ‘turn on the switch’ from now on,” he told reporters at Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Petra Jaya here after watching Najib’s announcement on the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat, which was broadcast live over all the television channels at 11.30 am today.
Prior to the dissolution, 29 out of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak were held by Barisan Nasional (BN), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) (14), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) (six), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) (five) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) (four) while the remaining two by the opposition DAP.
As Sarawak has already held its state election, the 31 parliamentary constituencies at stake will see PBB contesting in 14 seats, SUPP (seven), PRS (six) and SPDP (four). In the last parliamentary election in 2008, Sarawak BN won 30 out of the 31 seats but lost another seat to the opposition DAP in the Sibu by-election in 2010.
Meanwhile, PRS president Tan Sri Dr James Masing said the mainly rual Dayak-based party was confident that its list of candidates, for which PRS supreme council had nominated all its incumbents except for a new face in the Hulu Rajang parliamentary seat, would be accepted by Najib, as the national BN chairman.
PRS was also confident of retaining all its six seats, regardless of being challenged by the opposition Sarawak People’s Party (SWP) or Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) because it had been going to the ground to fulfil BN’s pledges in
assisting the people over the past five years, he told Bernama.
“We have nothing to apologise,” Masing, who is also state Land Development Minister said, adding that the opposition’s attempts to instigate the people through the airing of clandestine radio stations and recently the Global Witness video clip would not cause a dent in rural support.
SPDP president Tan Sri William Mawan said the party had done all the necessary preparation to ensure BN’s victory in all the four seats it would contest with the cooperation of all the state BN component parties. SPDP’s list of candidates had been finalised but any last minute changes would be subjected to the endorsement of the top BN leadership, said Mawan, who is also state Social Development Minister.
Following the dissolution, SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said the party would be convening its Central Working Committee (CWC) here in the next few days to fine-tune its election strategies towards polling day.
“It (the announcement of the dissolution today) is not a surprise (to me) but just a matter of the prime minister announcing it.
We have been preparing for it all this while,” he told Bernama. PBB deputy women chief and state Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said she had been on the ground together with her colleagues, both Members of Parliament and state elected representatives, to provide services in their respective areas. Pending the announcement on nomination day and polling day, it was a matter of time for the BN women’s wing to move in full force, she said.
BERNAMA
