By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Sept 30: It will be up to the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leadership to decide what to do with seat clashes between Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) following the absorption of former Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) members into PDP before the next Sarawak election.
PDP deputy president Dato Henry Harry Jinep said based on the initial understanding with the former PSB assemblymen Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Assan), Johnichal Rayong Ngipa (Engkilili) and Baru Bian (Ba’Kelalan), the absorption’s aim was not about the seats but about bringing Sarawak towards becoming a very harmonious State.
“Therefore, we will leave the fate of the seats up to the leadership of GPS. We do not have the right to claim seats. We just want Sarawak to be more peaceful.
“Of course, when they joined us—for the time being, we have eight (representatives) but when it comes to election, that is another issue,” he told reporters after officiating at Pertubuhan Wartawan Bebas Kuching’s (Pewarta) ‘Etiquette Workshop for Journalists 2024’ at Imperial Hotel here today.
Apart from the three disputed seats, PDP has five State constituencies that it won in the 12th Sarawak Election (PRN12) namely Tasik Biru through Henry, Krian (Friday Belik), Meluan (Roland Duat Jubin), Dudong (Dato Sri Tiong King Sing) and Marudi (Datuk Dr Penguang Manggil).
At the parliamentary level, PDP is represented by Tiong (Bintulu) and Dato Anyi Ngau (Baram).
Asked whether there have been any negotiations on the disputed seats, Henry replied: “Not yet”.
However, he believed that at the end of the day, GPS is more concerned about defending the seats in the upcoming State election.
On the plans for the redelineation exercise for Sarawak, he said PDP has been ‘telescoping’ potential areas to be allocated as new State seats for the party.
“But we haven’t discussed (the number of) seats yet. We only ‘telescoped’ the potential seats, not yet discussed,” he added.
While it was previously reported that 80,000 PSB members have been accepted en bloc into PDP following the former’s dissolution, Henry said they still need to go through the basic procedure of filling in membership registration forms.
To date, the number of PDP members is still growing.
“At the moment, we maintain the status quo on number of party divisions until such a time when we have our next Triennial General Assembly (TGA) or Triennial General Meeting (TGM), then we can approve new divisions.
“PDP’s next TGM is maybe 2027,” he stated.
At the same time, Henry stressed that Sabah and Sarawak’s demand for one-third representation in Parliament was not up for negotiation but instead, a call for the federal government to honour it as the Bornean regions’ right under Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Additionally, he referred to the formation of Malaysia as a marriage between Malaya and the Bornean regions to which he reminded the federal government to not forget its responsibility to take care of Sabah and Sarawak too.
“If you are married, take care of your children, wife and family. It’s an institution.
“If you are married but you don’t take care of it, that is not right,” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
