Adenan (left) and Awang Tengah (behind him) meeting PBB grassroots leaders from northern Sarawak.
LAWAS: PBB must be ready to shoulder the responsibility of returning Barisan Nasional (BN) to power in the next state election and ensure that all its members are eligible to vote.
In giving this reminder, Chief Minister and PBB president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem also told PBB branches in northern Sarawak to get organised and emulate PBB Bukit Kota branch, which has registered over 1,000 new voting members.
He made this call at a breakfast meeting with the party’s Ba Kelalan, Bukit Sari, Bukit Kota and Batu Danau grassroots leaders here yesterday.
“PBB currently has 281,000 members and it would be a shame if 10 to 20 per cent of its members are not registered voters – that is why we want to ensure that members are voters,” he said.
He reiterated that PBB must remain the bedrock of state BN and work hard in the next state election, pointing out that other BN component parties SUPP and SPDP had been weakened due to squabbling.
“Unlike other parties, PBB has grown from strength to strength from five seats in the 60s to 35, merging three parties as one while others, such as SNAP has gone from one to four and is left with only a stump to show,” he said.
He attributed PBB’s strength to its consistency in fighting for the interest and welfare of Bumiputeras in the state.
He asserted that BN would continue to bank on its rural support and PBB would work to maintain its good track record of winning all the 35 seats it contested in the last state election.
He also called on all quarters to work together to wrest Ba Kelalan from the opposition and retain Bukit Sari, Bukit Kota and Batu Danau.
The next state election is likely to see the number of state seats increased from 71 to 82 following the proposal for another 11 new seats, which was approved in the just concluded State Legislative Assembly sitting.
Adenan stressed that winnability would be the deciding factor in the selection of BN candidates, saying it would be pointless if those chosen are unable to deliver for the coalition.
On other matters, he touched on the reduction of power tariffs for domestic consumers, increasing participation of Sarawak contractors in the oil and gas industry, increasing oil and gas royalty, and better infrastructure.
Earlier on, PBB senior vice-president Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan also touched on the drive to increase membership and the importance of members to register as voters.
He said the party branches would update their data and ‘oil’ their machinery to ensure victory in the next state election.
Also present at the function were Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong, Limbang MP Hasbi Habibolah, and office bearers of the main, youth and women wings of the four branches.