KUCHING: PBB assures all members that it would work harder and smarter to ensure that it could win all 40 seats allocated to it in the upcoming state election.
In the 2011 polls, the party — the backbone of state Barisan Nasional (BN) — won all 35 seats. For the 11th state election, PBB has been given five new ones: Stakan, Gedong, Kabong, Tellian and Bukit Goram.
Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Electricity and Telecommunications) Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi, who is PBB secretary-general, said party members including those from youth and women’s wings had been working hard on the ground.
“We cannot afford to be complacent in facing the upcoming state election, which will be held soon,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
“One thing for sure, the party must ensure that it could defend its excellent track record of winning all seats (allocated to it).
“Now with the never-ending issues raised by the opposition, we need to double our efforts.”
Speaking on issues, Dr Rundi who is also state BN secretary-general hoped that the ‘warring parties’ — namely SUPP and United People’s Party (UPP), and SPDP and Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) — would come to a consensus in picking the most winnable candidates to ensure maximum victory for BN.
“We hoped that all these four parties would be willing to sacrifice for the sake of BN. Putting an end to the continuous squabbles would give BN that extra edge over the opposition. We cannot be seen fighting among ourselves.”
Meanwhile, Dr Rundi disclosed that party members at PBB headquarters here had been sorting out election materials, which would be distributed to all BN candidates for the upcoming state election.
On the new constituencies allocated to PBB, Stakan is a mixed area where the Malays and Dayaks constitute almost the same number of voters. However, almost half of the 14,000 there are members of the Armed Forces and their families.
Gedong is a predominantly-Malay area, where the threat from the opposition appears to be at the very minimum; and the same goes for Kabong.
Tellian, a Melanau-majority area, should also be a ‘safe’ one for PBB, but political observers believe that it would be facing a tough fight in the predominantly-Iban Bukit Goram, as its candidate will face Sarawak Workers’ Party (SWP) president Larry Sng.
For the record, PBB and the rest of state BN component parties and the two BN-friendly parties have yet to fully finalise all their candidates, despite the announcement of the State Legislative Assembly to be dissolved this April 11.
So far, only 43 candidates have been named, leaving another 39 to be announced soon.
Even PBB has 10 more candidates to be picked.