Jaziri (third right) addresses the press conference. On his right is Johan.
KUCHING: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which was launched in Sarawak last December, is ready to contest in several seats in the 12th State Election.
The party’s Sarawak chairman Jaziri Alkaf Abdillah Suffian said a few potential candidates have been identified but the final decision on seats will be made by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council.
“We have not yet discussed the seats with the other components in PH Sarawak. We will wait for the directive from our top leaders especially our party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who also chairs the PH presidential council.
“The presidential council is expected to hold a meeting soon on seat allocation among the component parties,” he told a press conference today.
Bersatu Sarawak is the fourth and newest component of PH Sarawak. Since it was launched in Bintulu on Dec 1 last year by Dr Mahathir, Bersatu Sarawak has established its state headquarters in Kuching and a regional office in Bintulu to serve the northern region.
Jaziri also said Bersatu Sarawak has so far registered 13,000 members, and it is now processing the registration of 7,000 to 8,000 more members.
“Hopefully, the number of members will be more than 20,000 by the end of this month,” he said, adding that the highest number of members were registered in Bintulu, Limbang and Kota Samarahan.
According to Jaziri again, Bersatu Sarawak is taking up the challenge given by Dr Mahathir to mobilise the party statewide in preparation for the next state election which he believed could be held as early as April next year.
“We have been on the ground for the past year, and the response from the people has been very encouraging and positive. We have already established 12 divisions, and we are looking to set up 19 more,” he said.
Earlier, Jaziri chaired the first state-level leadership meeting where other members of the Bersatu Sarawak executive committee were appointed.
Only the names of the top seven members of the executive committee were released to the media. They are namely Jaziri as the chairman, Datuk Johan Mohamad as deputy chairman, Ibrahim Mohamad (secretary), Wan Yusuf Ascar Wan Ali (treasurer), Duke Janteng (information chief), Sara Udin (women chief) and Alexander Frusis (youth chief).
“We also launched our Action Plan for 2020, which details our plans to strengthen our cooperation with other PH components. Bersatu Sarawak’s main struggle will be empowering the socio-economic status of rural folks, focusing rural development in Sarawak and matters relating to education in the state,” he added.