By D’Drift Team
BINTULU, July 5: Component parties within Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) may consider redistributing state seats in accordance to a party’s winnability in the areas for the upcoming state election where the number of seats allocated must continue to adhere to the principle of power sharing and consensus.
This is the view of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing who is now claiming all 10 seats which should be allocated to the party based on the said principle.
“GPS must continue to work based on consensus and power-sharing. This has been our main principle.
“In terms of seats, of course before this, certain seats are allocated to certain parties. However due to the change of circumstances, our seats have been taken away.
To us, we definitely want all the seats back. We don’t mind changing seats with other component parties for that to be done. I believe top leaders within GPS should consider that,” Tiong told D’Drift Team here recently.
He said it would be useless for any party to cling on a seat if there is no chance for the party to win.
“It does not mean if a party were to fail to retain a seat, it means that the party is weak. All it means is that the party is weak in the area but it may be strong in other areas.
“So, you can’t say this is your seat because traditionally it is allocated to you. If you can’t win in this seat, you can swap with other component parties which can win in the area and you can contest in areas that are traditionally not yours where you have a good chance of winning. We should learn from the Semenanjung parties.
“If we (GPS) can work like this, we will become very strong. The most important thing is, we must work very hard. All the parties must work very hard to serve the people while at the same time, be considerate of other component parties,” said Tiong who is also Prime Minster’s Special Envoy to China.
He warned that if GPS component parties were to remain rigid, inflexible and continue to cling on to the principle of “traditional seats,” it would cost GPS losing some seats.
“We can rotate the seats, this is workable. But the number of seats allocated for each party must remain the same. GPS should work based on consensus and power-sharing to maintain harmony and unity,” Tiong asserted.
PDP was allocated eight seats before 2016 and following the delineation in 2016, 11 new seats were created. PDP should be allocated with two additional seats out of the 11 new seats, resulting it having a total of 10 seats.
However, after 2016 Sarawak Election, the political development then did not favour PDP. Instead of getting two new seats, the party in fact lost more seats following three of its assemblymen joining PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) after they contested as BN (Barisan Nasional) direct candidate in the 2016 State election.–DayakDaily
