By Lian Cheng and Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 13: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is predicted to win 27 seats to ensure Sarawak maintains a strong negotiating position with whichever political coalition that controls Putrajaya after the 15th General Election (GE15).
In an exclusive online interview today, political analyst Kamarazaman Yaakob predicted that GPS is likely to win 27 seats in GE15, losing in only a handful of federal constituencies including P209 Julau and P195 Bandar Kuching.
He opined that Julau is a lost cause for GPS because it is a stronghold for its incumbent Datuk Larry Sng, who is also Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s (PBM) president.
“Julau is the incumbent Datuk Larry Sng’s stronghold. He is very influential and his father, the senior Sng (Datuk Sng Chee Hua), is also very influential there.
“Even if people want to argue with me, I dare say that the seat will be hard for GPS to wrest back. Based on my analysis, Julau is a ‘black’ area. The same applies to P195 Bandar Kuching too,” said Kamarazaman who is also a political strategist and caretaker Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s elder brother.
At the same time while predicting GPS’ failure to recapture Julau and Bandar Kuching, he foresaw that the Sarawak ruling coalition will regain seats such as P196 Stampin, P208 Sarikei and P212 Sibu which Democratic Action Party (DAP) won in the 2018 General Election.
On whether Putrajaya is finding Sarawak to be too demanding in its fight to regain its lost rights, Kamarazaman believed that Ismail Sabri who he sees as an accommodating leader will honour the terms of Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“If you were to look at the history of his leadership over these 14 months, he is someone very easy to talk to. That was why he signed the MoU with the opposition.
“The incident showed that he is very accommodative, understanding and very meticulous in identifying needs, not only those of the government but also those of the opposition as well as those of Sarawak,” said Kamarazaman.
He said as long as the demands made by Sarawakians are entitled rights under MA63, there is no reason for Ismail Sabri not to honour them. This stance also extends to Sabah.
“The rights of Sarawak must be returned to Sarawak, and the rights of Sabah must be returned to Sabah. The PM (prime minister) I see now, is very accommodative and I believe that he will honour MA63 and the demands of Sarawak.
“I said this also because I have witnessed the good relations between Premier Abang Johari (Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg) and him (Ismail Sabri),” said Kamarazaman. — DayakDaily
