Baharuddin Dato Mokhsen
KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak is targeting to win at least eight parliamentary seats in the coming general election (GE14), with marginal seats of Baram and Saratok high on the wanted list.
“We have six in the bag; realistically our target is getting two more from Sarawak to deliver eight for Pakatan Harapan. Sabah can deliver 10 while in Peninsular Malaysia the realistic figure is between 95 and 155 seats,” Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak election director Baharuddin Dato Mokhsen told The Borneo Post.
The six seats are Miri, Sibu, Lanang, Sarikei, Bandar Kuching and Stampin. Baharuddin admitted that retaining all the six seats would be a tall order for Pakatan Harapan as Barisan Nasional (BN) would be fielding the best available candidates in Miri and Stampin.
“I heard Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) will be fielding its president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian in Stampin to challenge incumbent Julian Tan. Same goes to Miri where our sole MP from Sarawak, Dr Michael Teo will be facing SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting or SUPP publicity chief cum Miri mayor Adam Yii,” he said.
Baharuddin was however tight-lipped when asked to confirm rumours that Democratic Action Party (DAP) and PKR would be swapping the Miri and Stampin seats for a better chance of winning.
“I heard about it but it is beyond me to comment on party policy especially when it involves another component party,” he replied.
Speculation is rife that PH Sarawak supporters are concerned that incumbent Julian Tan is no match for Dr Sim, and DAP has better chance of winning if its chairman contests the seat.
To further complicate matters, Dr Teo seems to have lost the strength after the passing of his secretary, Bill Kayong.
Observers noticed that PKR national vice-chairwoman Voon Shiak Ni has been making her moves in Miri and is widely tipped to replace Dr Teo but Voon and DAP Miri do not have a warm relationship, making it almost impossible for her to secure a victory.
It is understood that some people have been urging PH leadership to consider swapping the seat, and for PKR strongman See Chee How to contest in Stampin and leave Miri to DAP, where its state secretary Alan Ling has better chance to win. When this was brought up to Baharuddin’s attention, he smiled and replied: “No comment”.
See Chee How was once reported as saying: “I cannot say no” when asked if he would be one of the shortlisted candidates. However, See was quick to rubbish speculation that he would be contesting in Miri, saying: “Please don’t speculate. Speculation will have no end.”
Baharuddin, however, was quick to say that the eight seats he predicted is the minimum and most realistic figure for PH Sarawak.
“We also have good chance in Julau and I will talk to a political giant to work out a formula in Julau for a straight fight there. The same goes to Sri Aman,” he said.
With the inclusion of Julau and Sri Aman, PH Sarawak will be able to deliver 10 seats. Baharuddin believes the coming general election would see BN and PH deploy the latest technology and use ‘Big Data’.
“We are micro targeting to identify areas where we are strong, where we need better logistics and this time it will be specific. We cannot afford to go around looking for voters who need transportation to vote etc.”