KUCHING, Jan 14 — A Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leader today said he believes the outcome of the Kimanis by-election in Sabah will have some implications on the people of Sarawak that must hold its state election by next year.
“I am sure that the outcome will have some implications, like swaying some support among the Sarawakians,” GPS secretary general Alexander Nanta Linggie, who is also the Kapit Member of Parliament, said.
He said the support could be either for GPS or Pakatan Harapan.
“Yes, of course, as a political party, we are monitoring the by-election closely, like how things are going on,” he said to reporters at the Kuching Court Complex where he and other GPS leaders were giving their support to the state government in a civil suit against the Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas).
Nanta said from the feedback and information that he has gathered from friends in Sabah, the by-election is a close fight between the ruling Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) candidate Datuk Karim Bujang and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Mohamad Alamin.
Polling for the by-election is on January 18.
He said GPS is not sending anyone to Kimanis to observe the campaign activities and to get the feedback.
“We are concentrating our efforts in Sarawak. Basically, to us, it is just a by-election and it is fought by BN and Warisan,” he added.
On Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), led by former state Second Minister of Finance Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, Nanta said the party has every right to contest the Sarawak state election which could be held in the first half of next year.
However, he criticised Wong for questioning GPS for concentrating development in the Upper Rajang Development Area (URDA), Northern Region Development Area (NRDA) and Highland Development Area (HDA).
“This is strange because he was in the government until recently. If he has such views, then why didn’t he express his views at that time?” Nanta asked.
“It is also very strange because he is trying to get rural areas, especially the Dayak areas, to support PSB, but from the way he is talking, it is as if he is not prioritising the rural areas for development by questioning the role of URDA, NRDA and HDA,” he said.
He said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg has allocated RM1.5 billion each to these designated development areas for infrastructure development and agriculture.
