KUCHING, Jan 12: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) is targeting 11 seats in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
PBDSB election director Rapelson Richard Hamit said they have decided to let go of the Bintulu seat to DAP and Saratok seat to PKR.
Rapelson, who is also the party’s youth leader said the party had to plan its strategies properly in order to succeed in the upcoming general election.
“The potential seats are the six Dayak Iban majority seats namely Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Selangau, Julau, Kanowit and Kapit. The Dayak Bidayuh majority seats are Puncak Borneo, Serian and Mas Gading, while two more are Dayak Orang Ulu majority seats namely Limbang and Hulu Rajang,” he said in a statement today.
Rapelson added that seven of the 11 seats were previously ‘owned’ by Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) before the party’s registration was revoked by the Registrar of Societies.
Thanking the party leaders for giving him the opportunity to lead the election for PBDSB, he said the party will implement a strict selection process.
“This task is very challenging, especially in the Najib-Mahathir war (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak-Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad), but I will do my best,” Rapelson said.
Earlier, PBDSB announced that it was a standalone party, not allied to any opposition pact, but willing to collaborate with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Gabungan Rakyat Saksama (SAKSAMA) to bring down Barisan Nasional (BN).
On the other hand, Rapelson added it is likely that they would also have a candidate to contest the Lanang seat, depending on the situation.
“We might place a candidate from the youth camp, but it depends on the current situation. The fight between SUPP-UPP has given us the opportunity to open the eyes of the Iban community in the area, to show them that they are just a SUPP-UPP political tool.”
“We hope that PH will not mess with our seats. PBDSB was forced to let go of the intention to contest in 17 seats to avoid being labeled as a vote splitter. Now, we have given PH the opportunity to have a ‘one-to-one’ fight with BN, so please respect us as the local Sarawakian party,” he added. — DayakDaily
