Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president Sim Kui Hian has insisted that the seat belongs to his party.

“A person can leave but the seat remains with SUPP,” Sim said.

PSB, formerly known as United Peoples’ Party (UPP), is a splinter party of SUPP.

Susil’s application to join PBB was accepted during the party’s supreme council meeting on Thursday.

PBB deputy president for its Pesaka wing Douglas Uggah Embas said the issue of which party would be allocated the seat for future elections would be discussed “when the right time comes”.

He said Thursday’s meeting did not deliberate on the issue.

“They just processed Susil’s application,” he said.

PBB, led by Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg, consists of the Pesaka and Bumiputera wings.

Susil had announced his resignation from PSB in July following the cutting of funds for minor rural projects and the rural transformation programme for the party’s elected representatives since April.

Sim later insisted that the Mambong seat should stay with his party.

During the 2016 state election, the late chief minister Adenan Satem had allowed several PSB members, including Susil, to contest on the Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket since they were considered BN-friendly.

Political analyst Francis Paul Siah has suggested that Abang Johari apply the same rules for the coming state election in 2021 to avoid antagonising SUPP and maintain solidarity and unity within the GPS coalition.

He said Susil should be allowed to re-contest in Mambong but as a GPS direct candidate and not representing PBB or SUPP.

“The mechanisms can be sorted out later if Susil wins,” he told FMT.

Alternatively, Siah said Abang Johari could find another Bidayuh seat for Susil and return the Mambong seat to SUPP.

“This is easier said than done as PBB has an abundance of Bidayuh candidates.

“However, PBB must bear in mind that it has more than half of the 82 state seats and it has to be magnanimous towards its smaller coalition partners and not be viewed as overly greedy,” he said.

Siah, the founder of Movement of Change Sarawak, said Sim was “technically and politically” correct for claiming that the seat belonged to SUPP.

“Mambong (formerly known as Bengoh) has been contested by SUPP ever since the first Sarawak coalition government was formed in 1970,” he said.

He also said Susil, a former SUPP assemblyman, had good reasons to join PBB.

“Since quitting PSB, Susil has been an independent assemblyman. As a ‘lone ranger’, it would be politically wiser to be aligned to a stronger party like PBB rather than return home to SUPP, a smaller entity. This is political survival for Susil,” he said.

However, Universiti Malaya’s Awang Azman Awang Pawi predicted that the Mambong seat would be taken over by PBB since the majority of the constituents were Bumiputeras.

Awang Azman said SUPP should focus on Chinese-populated areas and gain the support from the community.

He said although this would affect the relationship between PBB and SUPP, Sim would be willing to accept a decision made by Abang Johari.