KUCHING, April 25: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) welcomes state Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chairman Baru Bian to stand for election in the constituency of Selangau in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
PRS president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing said that Baru, as an Orang Ulu who had failed to make it among his own people, would not be seen as a threat in the Iban-majority area of Selangau.
“Baru failed to make it among his country men during last general election, PRU13 (13th General Election).”
“He is free to try his luck among the Ibans of Selangau. After all Malaysia is free country and holders of Sarawak identification cards are free to contest in any area in Sarawak,” said Masing who is also Deputy Chief Minister in a statement today.
He was commenting on the release of PKR’s GE14 candidate list today.
Baru stood in Limbang in GE13 and lost to Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) Hasbi Habibollah who garnered 12,999 voters against Baru’s 4,698.
Selangau is traditionally allocated to PRS to contest for Barisan Nasional (BN). For GE14, PRS is fielding its first female parliamentary candidate Rita Insol to defend the seat after the party expelled incumbent for Selangau, Datuk Joseph Entulu who openly claimed that he was still the candidate for PRS.
Selangau has a total of 30,103 voters with Iban voters comprising 96 per cent. — DayakDaily
