GEARING UP: State Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) committee members posed for the press at PKR state headquarters at 3rd Mile yesterday. Seen in the picture are state PKR information chief See Chee How (seated, second right), Stanny Embat (second left, seated) and PKR Sarawak Women Chief Nurhanim Moksen (seated, right).
KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) looks certain to contest in five ‘winnable’ seats in the upcoming parliamentary election.
PKR Sarawak chairman Baru Bian said the five seats are Petra Jaya (P194), Stampin (P196), Kota Samarahan (P197), Mambong (P198) and Sibuti (P218).
“We are very interested in these areas. We have spoken to the people on the ground and so far the response is very encouraging,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Baru, who is also Ba Kelalan assemblyman, said those areas would be the sole focus for the Pakatan Rakyat alliance to capture but he did not deny possible overlapping interests among the partners.
“There will be a collision between the coalition members of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as they have also indicated areas where they want to stand. We will be sitting down to determine the best vehicles and party to represent PR in these areas,” he said.
He was responding to the statement where Democratic Action Party (DAP) had indicated it was interested in the Stampin constituency.
“For this matter, PKR believes that the winnable candidate should have priority. There is no point in asking for the seat if you don’t have a chance to win it,” he said.
So far, PKR has kept mum on its candidates to contest in those areas.
For the upcoming 13th parliamentary election, PKR is aiming for 15 seats across the state.
In another related matter, state PKR leaders will be visiting those five seats together with PKR de-facto leader Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor Menter Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on Sept 4.
Both leaders will meet PKR members at Kampung Pinang Jawa (Petra Jaya PKR branch) from 12pm to 2pm and Lot 1092/1093 Lorong 20 Phase 2, RPR Batu Kawa at 2.30pm -4.00pm for Stampin and Kota Samarahan branches.
For Mambong branch, the meeting programme will be held at Kampung Besira Rayang at 7pm – 9pm, at which Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim will officiate.
Khalid will be flying to Miri to meet PKR members at Lot 12, Kampung Tunku Abdul Rahman Lambir at 4pm – 7pm.