KUCHING, Jan 19: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing believes that giving a free hand to component parties to decide on their own candidates will deliver a bigger win to the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14)
He expressed his sincere hope that the top BN leadership would respect the decisions of the component parties especially those from Sarawak and Sabah on the candidates for the pending election.
“It is a good possibility that the opposition coalition will lose more seats than win more, provided that BN leaders don’t try to micro-manage other BN component parties especially from Sabah and Sarawak.
“Who knows better than the ‘managers’ of their own parties?” Masing, who is also Deputy Chief Minister told DayakDaily today.
Responding to the recent polls conducted by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research (Merdeka Centre), Masing agreed with the finding of the polls which showed that BN might regain its two-thirds majority in Parliament after GE14.
Masing, who is also Infrastructure Development and Transportation Minister, said there is a high possibility that BN would be able to recapture some of its lost seats in the coming general election due to the inherent weakness of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
“PH, as I have said before, is a coalition of loose disgruntled politicians with differing aims and ambitions.
“Their ‘togetherness’ is cemented not by firm political ideology but by their dislike for one person and that is the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak).
“That is not good enough a reason to administer this nation. Hence, PH will lose more seats after GE14,” said Masing.
Merdeka Centre conducted a poll in December and released its findings this month.
The public opinion polls showed that even though BN’s share of the popular vote was still on the decline, BN would be able to regain its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
Merdeka Centre explained that it was due to the “fractious nature” of the make-up of PH; the presence of PAS which would result in three-corner fights that split opposition votes and the decline of voters’ supportive sentiments towards PH. — DayakDaily
