By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 31: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak’s participation in the upcoming Sarawak elections is part of the process of nurturing democracy and should not be viewed negatively as a challenge to the unity government.
PKR Sarawak State Leadership Council (MPN) chairman Roland Engan made this statement in response to views from various parties, including Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who suggested that PKR should not take part in the next Sarawak election, given that the peninsula-based party had failed to win any State seats in the last election.
Abdul Karim also reasoned it was not worth it for PKR to be involved since Sarawak has formed a unity government at the federal level.
“I prefer to look at various factors, including whether the rights and welfare of the people of Sarawak are well defended, before making a decision to contest in the Sarawak election.
“What is the use of unity and stability if the rights and welfare of the people are neglected?” Roland questioned in a post uploaded on social media today.
He further stated that if all parties respect each other and continue to nurture democracy without practising revenge politics, participation in the Sarawak election should not be seen as a challenge to the unity government.
Additionally, Roland is optimistic that under the unity government, the next Sarawak election will be the cleanest yet, with each candidate adhering to the maximum expenditure of RM100,000.
“This is because candidates from political parties forming the unity government and supporting Malaysia Madani will definitely be clean (uphold integrity) and cooperate with the EC (Election Commission) and MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) against money politics,” he added. — DayakDaily
