KUCHING, Dec 28: All seats allocated between PKR and DAP are final and there is no swapping of seats, reiterated state Pakatan Harapan chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
Responding to rumours that DAP will swap the Miri parliamentary seat with PKR for Stampin parliamentary seat, Chong said that such a report without quoting any DAP member is only speculation.
“I already said it more than 10 times, Miri is PKR’s; we already agreed on that,” said the state DAP chairman, stressing on the importance of working together with PKR in the bigger picture.
Nonetheless, he said DAP members in Miri will support PKR’s candidate in defending the seat in the upcoming polls.
The Opposition coalition had reiterated that its various coalition parties would maintain the status quo by contesting the same seats they did respectively in the last general election (GE13).
Only 31 parliamentary seats will be contested in the general election in Sarawak.
In the last polls, DAP won Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sarikei, Lanang and Sibu, all five of which are urban Chinese-majority seats, and PKR won one in Miri.
PAS lost all three it contested.
For the urban seat of Miri, the only seat won by PKR in GE13, the current elected representative Michael Teo might not seek re-election. It has been reported that Teo is not keen after his close associate in PKR land and native rights’ activist Bill Kayong was murdered for his involvement in defending native customary rights.
Of late, there have been calls from the DAP grassroots in Miri for PKR to return Miri to DAP. Word on the grapevine is that the DAP wants to field former Piasau assemblyman and state DAP secretary Alan Ling in Miri.
Chong had however indicated on many occasions that his special assistant Kelvin Yii is likely to contest in Stampin.
In GE13, BN won 25 seats — PBB with 14; PRS with six; SPDP with four and SUPP with one.
In the 2008 general election, Sarawak BN swept 30 out of the 31 seats, losing only Bandar Kuching to DAP’s Chong. BN subsequently lost another seat to DAP during the Sibu by-election when DAP’s late chairman Wong Ho Leng narrowly defeated Robert Lau Hui Yew of SUPP. — DayakDaily
