KUCHING: Frequent visits by top federal leaders to the state should not be taken as an indication that the state election is just around the corner.
“I don’t think so. To me, the (federal) leaders are now more concerned about us (Sarawakians) and want to see for themselves the situation (in Sarawak).
“We should welcome this,” said Assistant Minister of Community Services Datuk Peter Nansian when updating reporters yesterday on the upcoming Gawai Dayak carnival to be run by the Association of Research and Development Movement of Singai Sarawak (Redeems) from June 11 to 14.
He was asked whether regular visits by federal ministers to the state of late could signal that the State Legislative Assembly would be dissolved sooner than expected.
For the record, the next state election must be held the latest by June next year.
Nansian, who is Tasik Biru assemblyman, also stressed that when it came to Barisan Nasional (BN), they had always been working towards serving the people – regardless of whether election time was near or still a long way to go.
“We in BN are always working for the ‘rakyat’ (people) – election or no election. To me, the federal ministers come to visit Sarawak as part of their duties.”
According to several political observers, they believe that the recent more-than-regular trips by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to Sarawak could be parts of efforts to garner stronger support for BN, in view of various issues affecting the people such as the recent implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) which many say have become an added burden to low-income consumers.