Sarawak BN recently made known its determination to recapture Sibu, Sarikei and Miri from the opposition in the coming polls (GE14).
In the last general election, DAP won the Sarikei and Sibu seats while PKR took the Miri seat, all by small majorities, with Sarikei returning the DAP candidate by a mere 505 votes.
Speaking to FMT, Sarawak PH and DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen rated the opposition’s chances this time around as “50-50”.
He claimed that the gifts and cash splashed about by the government gave BN the edge.
“We know that these handouts are only a temporary stunt, but some voters may be taken in.”
Still, Chong said, with Sarawak only voting for parliamentary seats since the state election was held in 2016, national issues take centre stage compared to local issues.
“In the 2016 state election, it was all about supporting the late chief minister Adenan Satem who was well respected by the people, including the opposition.”
The hugely popular Adenan led BN to win a whopping 72 out of 82 state seats.
“But a parliamentary election is about whether to support Prime Minister Najib Razak,” Chong said, adding that the opposition stood a better chance in this contest as Najib was not liked by the people.
Meanwhile, political analyst Jeniri Amir said BN’s goal of wresting the three urban seats was realistic and achievable.
The associate professor at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak said he based his assessment on the voting patterns in the 2016 Sarawak state election.
Jeniri said this was especially the case in Sibu, the seat currently held by DAP’s Oscar Ling, as it had a sizeable Bumiputera voter base.
“In Sibu, there are two Bumiputera majority state seats, namely Bawang Assan and Nangka.”
In 2013, Jeniri said, BN lost some support from the Bumiputera community because people rejected former chief minister Taib Mahmud.
But this time around, Taib is the state Yang Dipertua Negeri and no longer active in politics. BN has also been buoyed by the agreement of component party SUPP and its pro-BN splinter UPP to cooperate in GE14.
“As long as SUPP and UPP work together and don’t try to sabotage one another, I believe BN can benefit from a slight shift in support from the Chinese,” said Jeniri.
Two weeks ago, Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg gathered SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian and UPP president Wong Soon Koh to sign a memorandum of understanding.
SUPP is a long-time BN component in Sarawak while UPP is not. UPP candidates, if chosen, will have to contest under the SUPP/BN quota as direct BN candidates will not be fielded in GE14 unlike during the last state polls.
In Miri, Jeniri said BN would stand the best chance if it fielded SUPP secretary-general Sebastian Ting who is well liked by the people.
However, Jeniri acknowledged that for Chinese voters, federal issues such as corruption or 1MDB may be more important in GE14.
DAP currently holds five parliamentary seats – Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sibu, Lanang and Sarikei – while PKR’s sole seat is Miri.
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