Speculation rife on April 9 polls in S'wak
Both the BN and the opposition are ready for a face-off in the coming 10th Sarawak election, which must be held before July 24.
Both the BN and the opposition are ready for a face-off in the forthcoming 10th Sarawak election, which must be held before July 24.
Word of an impending dissolution of the 71-seat legislative assembly is spreading fast, even to other parts of the country.
“Anything
can happen, and I will not be surprised if we have early elections,” Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) secretary-general Wilfred Nissom (left) said today.
Sarawak National Party (Snap) secretary-general Stanley Jugol has a strong feeling that the state assembly may be dissolved next month, for polling to be held in May.
“I could be wrong, but then I could also be right,” he asserted, reflecting the current situation of uncertainty and anticipation, given that Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is keeping mum on the date.
A politician from the peninsula has predicted in a tweet that the legislative assembly will be dissolved on March 19, with the nomination day fixed for April 2 and polling on April 9.
Taib had told reporters last year that polling would be on a Saturday - moreover, and April is speculated because he is known to favour the number 9, it being the highest single digit number.
However, it was only in 2001 that the sum of 9 cropped up - nominations were filed on Sept 18 (1 plus 8) and polling day was on Sept 27 (2 plus 7).
The process of state elections - from dissolution of the state assembly to polling - has taken less than a month in the past. In 2006, the state assembly was dissolved on April 24, nominations were filed on May 9 and polling was held on May 20.
Some political leaders predict that Taib may advise Yang di-Pertua Negeri Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng to dissolve the legislature this month to pave the way for polling next month.
This is because Taib, who is the state BN head, has in hand a list of 71 potential candidates from his own party, Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), PRS and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).
BN's final checks
While he has more or less confirmed the 35 candidates from PBB, Taib is still checking the backgrounds of candidates proposed by the other BN component parties.
“I am sure he wants to see that the potential candidates submitted by other parties have a good chance of winning,” explained a political analyst.
SUPP has been allocated 19 seats. It will retain all 12 incumbents, but there could be fresh faces in seven other seats it lost in the last election.
According to president Dr George Chan (left), the party is not interested in “recycled” candidates. An exception may be made for assistant publicity chief Alfred Yap Chin, who may re-contest in Kota Sentosa, the seat he lost to Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen in 2006.
Youth chief Sih Hua Tong (in Batu Lintang) and heart specialist Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian (Pending) are said to be among the SUPP candidates.
SPDP has submitted the names of all eight incumbents.
PRS has excluded the name of assistant minister in the chief minister’s office Larry Sng from its list of nine candidates, but retained seven incumbents.
In place of Sng, who is no longer a party member, PRS president James Masing has nominated an engineer as a candidate in Pelagus. There will be a fresh face in Ngemah, the only seat the party lost in 2006.
Opposition all set
Among the opposition parties, Sarawak DAP has confirmed all its candidates.
“
We are all geared up for the coming state elections,” its secretary Chong Chieng Jen (left) said.
The party has put in place its election machinery, including materials to be distributed from nomination day.
Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian said almost all of its candidates have been identified.
Over the past few weeks, the party has paraded the potential candidates at press conferences.
Snap secretary-general Stanley Jugol said the party’s candidates have been named for all but two of the seats it plans to contest.
Stanley said Snap would work closely with its Pakatan Rakyat partners - DAP, PKR and PAS - during the campaign.
Parti Kita, the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement and United Borneo Front are expected to lend their assistance.
