Dato Othman Abdillah
KUCHING (July 1): Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (Sedar) will contest in eight Malay-Melanau majority seats in the next parliamentary polls without having to face other Sarawak-based opposition parties, said Dato Othman Abdillah.
The Sedar president said the seats are Santubong, Petra Jaya, Kota Samarahan, Batang Sadong, Batang Lupar, Tanjung Manis, Igan, and Mukah.
“This is the mutual decision reached by the parties in their June 21, 2022 meeting to initiate an Opposition cooperation pact that will ensure a straight fight in all 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak,” he said in a press statement today.
The remaining 23 seats will be divided accordingly between the other four Sarawak-based opposition parties – Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB), Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi), and Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) as mutually agreed, he said.
“Although the PRU (general election) is quite a different scenario from the state elections, the parties have benefitted from experience gained in PRN12 (12th state election) particularly in finding that multi-cornered contests and the resulting splits in Opposition votes did not bring any gain to any one party,” Othman said.
“Therefore, the parties have decided to cooperate with each other to pave the way for straight fights in PRU15 (15th general election). However, there is no talk of forming a coalition thus each party will be contesting under its own symbol.”
According to him, all the Sarawak-based Opposition parties have pledged that their election machinery would assist each other in all constituencies.
Othman claimed all the five Sarawak-based Opposition parties are confident they are the better choice to represent Sarawakians at federal level.
“Past elections have shown that representation by parties from outside Sarawak were more focused on their parties’ political interests. Hence, they have repeatedly failed to win the hearts of the people of Sarawak.
“Furthermore, Sarawakians generally feel betrayed by their manifestos in PRU14 (14th general election). Perhaps it would be more prudent if parties from outside Sarawak cease from further disappointing the people of Sarawak and the plans by Sarawak-based Opposition parties to challenge Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in a straight fight,” Othman said.
Apart from Sedar, the other Sarawak-based Opposition party that has staked its claim on seats is PBDSB.
PBDSB president Bobby William recently said his party will be contesting in Kapit, Julau, and Sibuti.
PSB, PBK, and Aspirasi have yet to announce their seats.
Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats and GPS holds 18 of them.