KUCHING, JUNE 10- Sarawak DAP has identified 20 rural constituencies which the party will concentrate on for the next state elections expected to be anytime between 2015 and 2016.
And in that vein,outgoing state chairman Wong Ho Leng said DAP will cooperate with all its Pakatan Rakyat component members and others including Sarawak Wokers Pary (SWP) led by former Pelagus assemblyman Larry Sng.
“We must also cooperate with all opposition parties, such as PKR, PAS and even SWP (Sarawak Workers Party), to ensure that we break the stronghold of the BN,” said Wong who is also Bukit Assek assemblyman.
Wong’s inclusion of SWP seems to reflect the ‘keep your enemies closer” adage.
Sng and his family are reportedly ‘close to’ Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.
In the run up to the May 5 general elections, speculation were rife that Taib was behind the setting up of SWP in his bid to divide the Dayaks further and ‘shake’ Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) helmed by James Masing and end Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)’s run.
But both parties survived the GE13.
SWP trained its guns on PRS and contested in all six seats held by PRS candidates but failed in its bid to unseat Masing’s men.
Wong, who was speaking at the party’s 16th Sarawak Ordinary Convention yesterday, also reminded the 120 delegates from 25 branches in the state to defend the 12 urban and semi-urban constituencies which it won in the 2011 state elections.
In the recent parliamentary elections DAP won seven seats. PKR took one.
“Where we failed, we must succeed in the next election. We owe it to the Malaysian people to replace the regime that is corrupt to the core.
“We (also) owe it to the Sarawak public that lives have to improve not only in the urban areas but also the rural interiors,” said Wong.
UEC, dams, local council polls
Wong, who is withdrawing from active politics due to illness, was replaced by Chong Chieng Jen in the party polls.
Chong was formerly the state secretary general. He led DAP’s election charge in the May 5 polls.
He is also a second term Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman.
Meanwhile the convention also saw 20 resolutions being passed.
Among them was a call to the state government compel all appointed ministers and elected representatives to declare their personal assets.
This, the party said, was in accordance with ethical practices for transparency.
The resolutions also called for the state government to immediately cease the construction of dams in view of its social and environmental implications and to recognize the Unified Examinations Certificate (UEC), issued by the Chinese Independent Schools, which is already globally accepted.
“We would also like to call upon the state government to stop implementing the policy of making local authorities to be financially independent.
“The state government is duty bound to allocate sufficient funds to local councils to ensure citizens are provided with sufficient basic facilities and are well-maintained.”
“We also call on the federal and state governments to hold local authorities election in all areas nationwide to return the voting right to the people,” the statement said.
Provide rural areas with amenities
In addition the delegates also urged the federal government to set up an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) in view of the high number of deaths in police custody.
“As of now, any complaint against misuse of power on the part of the police has to be made to the police department itself.
“Those investigations had always brought no result. The people’s lives and property are left unprotected,” the delegates noted
The resolutions also called for the Election Commission to study thoroughly the weaknesses in the current system, the state government to implement an open tender policy on all contracts and for the federal government to keep its promise to upgrade and turn the Pan-Borneo trunk road into a four-lane highway with five years.
The delegates also demanded that state and federal government provided rural constituencies with basic amenities as there were still many Iban longhouses with no electricity, pipe water and proper roads.
