By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 31: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is confident that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) can win more than 19 parliamentary seats in the coming 15th General Election (GE15).
Makind his deduction based on GPS’ landslide victory in the 12th Sarawak State Election (PRN12) held just last December, he said he knows that GPS can secure the votes of Sarawakians.
“I’m not too sure how many (seats) we will be able to win back, but looking at the trend during the last State election, the voters are with GPS.
“And that’s where I believe GPS definitely will be able to win more than 19 seats,” he told reporters after witnessing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between DayakDaily and Friends of Sarawak Museum (FoSM) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
In GE14, GPS which was then a part of Barisan Nasional (BN) had won 19 out of 31 Sarawak parliamentary seats.
Concerning speculations that GE15 would be held in July this year, Abdul Karim, who is also Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, said the decision lies with the Prime Minister.
He said Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is the only one who could call the shots for Parliament to be dissolved, unless there is a vote of no confidence.
As for rumours that BN is confident to take on other states in Malaysia following big wins in the Melaka and Johor polls, Abdul Karim only said BN’s victories in the two states cannot be used as a yardstick.
“In states like Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, and Selangor, the scenario might be different. Well, we do see that in Melaka and Johor, there might have been effort before the dissolution by certain parties to call for their state elections.
“Because they are confident in winning in those states. But will they be able to do it in Penang and Selangor where the scenario would be different?
“We cannot equate it likewise. That would mean BN can sweep the whole Malaysia, and that just can’t be true,” he said. — DayakDaily
