James Chin of the University of Tasmania said the dispute was mainly a fight between PDP president Tiong King Sing and SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian, both attempting to expand their parties’ influence.
It was “highly unlikely” that opposition parties would be able to capitalise on the feud, Chin said, as the constituencies fought over by the two parties are not part of the opposition parties’ voter bases.
“Ba’kelalan is a Orang Ulu area, while Engkilili and Bawang Assan are Dayak-majority areas,” he told FMT.
He said PDP “has been emboldened” with the admission of members from the now-dissolved Parti Sarawak Bersatu into the party and was now “trying to expand their foothold in Sarawak” by going after SUPP seats, traditionally in urban Chinese areas. PDP has traditionally been in Dayak areas.
In the 2021 state election, Tiong was fielded by GPS and won in Dudong, a traditional SUPP seat, causing much ire within SUPP.
Tensions have spiked between the two parties, with SUPP’s Dudong chief Wong Ching Yong declaring it an “open conflict” on Monday.
Last year, three assemblymen from PSB joined PDP, taking with them three traditional SUPP seats. PSB, led by Wong Soon Koh until its dissolution, is a splinter of SUPP. After joining PDP, Wong was subsequently named its senior vice-president.
Chin said PBB, the largest party in GPS, would not intervene in this dispute and may even “watch what is happening with glee”.
However, socio-political analyst Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya said PBB would not allow the spat to last too long and will negotiate a closed-door compromise between the two parties.
He said PDP seeks Engkilili, Bawang Assan and Ba’kelalan because they believe SUPP has failed to gain ground in the first two seats, and PDP has also done a lot of groundwork among the Lun Bawang and other ethnic communities in Ba’kelalan.
Awang Azman said the allocation of these seats will be dependent on each party’s past performance and contribution to GPS, as well as their acceptance by the grassroots.
Chin said it is too early to know which party will be fielded in these seats as seat negotiations have not started, but added that GPS has usually allowed the incumbent parties to recontest their seats.