Sarawak PKR has slammed the state BN for spreading rumours in certain constituencies that PKR candidates have either been withdrawn from contesting or have been bought over.

NONE“They have to resort to playing dirty politics because they feel threatened by the presence of Pakatan Rakyat,” Sarawak PKR head Baru Bian (right) said.

“When they feel threatened, they try to confuse the people especially our members and voters by saying that our candidates have withdrawn.

“They have to do it because in this coming election the stake is very high - that we are going to change the federal government.”

Willie Mogin, who is tipped to contest in Mambong,  and Nicholas Bawin in Lubok Antu, have categorically denied the speculation surrounding them.

“This is BN propaganda, that some of candidates will compromise with BN. Let me tell you that all candidates recommended have been chosen through a very stringent process because we have learnt from the 2008 general election,” Bian said.

“I wish to reiterate that all our candidates are people with credibility and integrity, because we are looking for a bigger picture - cukuplah (enough) under BN for the last 50 years. So all these rumours are baseless.”

Bian said the BN was feeling insecure of its position in the state.

“They know that the people are with us and they know that we are fully prepared for the election. All our divisions, election machinery and service centres have been activated.

“We have also set up the election machinery, even in constituencies where we are not contesting, because we are helping our coalition partners.

azlan“This is the reason why (the BN) feels threatened. Chief Minister (Abdul Taib Mahmud, left) himself had admitted that there are some problems for BN in certain constituencies.”

PKR is expected to contest between 10 and 12 seats in the coming election, while the DAP is also aiming for 12 seats. The rest may go to PAS.

Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats. Currently the opposition holds two parliamentary seats - Bandar Kuching and Sibu.

Pakatan expects to win about 10 seats, of which six could be in Chinese-majority seats.

The writer, who uses a pseudonym, is based in Sarawak.