KUCHING, June 14: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will come out stronger with consolidated coalition efforts, asserts Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth Chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan.
According to Snowdan in a statement today, while it is well known that the state election is due by June 2021, when it will be held is anyone’s guess until a formal declaration to dissolve the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) is announced.
“We began our preparation almost as soon as the 11th “Pilihan Raya Negeri” (state election) ended. We didn’t rest on our laurels. We are ever ready, and we always assume that we are facing election everyday and get our machineries on alert (sic),” he revealed.
Snowdan was responding to media queries on Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS)’s preparation to limit the opposition’s influence in the constituencies it plans to contest after Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg had instructed assemblymen in his party — Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) — to go to the ground in preparation of the incoming state election.
Snowdan also noted that PRS elected representatives will keep honouring their pledges to the rakyat, and continue with their Minor Rural Project (MRP) and Rural Transformation Programmd (RTP) initiatives to complement the ongoing 12th Malaysian Plan to develop the state in all aspects, notably in physical infrastructure.
Snowdan emphasised PRS has aligned its efforts towards being “rural centric” as envisaged by the Chief Minister in the state’s budget last year, which has become the party’s standard operating procedure (SOP).
“For us development is a continuous process. We don’t just come out when elections are near. We are on the ground visiting, monitoring our projects and meeting the people and take concern (sic) of their agenda and predicaments despite the Covid-19 threats,” he added.
Snowdan pointed out the GPS coalition is picking up efforts again, to make up for time lost during the Covid-19 outbreak.
From grassroots feedback, he added, they almost know who the candidates are and their influence.
“We will fight the opposition as a coalition because almost all the coalition partners have their grassroots support too. Ideally it would be a “consolidated coalition” effort carrying a GPS common umbrella, and not fragmented on party basis. This way, we wish to avoid the “thorn in the flesh”, he asserted.
Meanwhile, Snowdan said that the GPS statewide road shows and rallies have been well received by the people.
He opined that the coalition’s symbol and emblem are known clearly and embedded in the people’s mind, including the rationale of when it opted out from Barisan Nasional (BN).
“We are not sidelining (sic) the cyber war either. We recognise and accept that is a new battle front especially amongst our youths by placing them in what they are best at, cyber realm troopers.
“This would be our path towards the “new design” in politics to cater for the emerging youths eligible (to vote) at age 18, without barrier to their early exposure, a norm granted without being demanded. That is how far we appreciate them because we ought to honour, instead of denying them of their rights,” Snowdan pointed out. — DayakDaily
