KUCHING, June 14 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) Sarawak said a poster purportedly featuring its candidates for the coming state election is fake.
In its Facebook page, PN Sarawak said the poster did not come from their leadership and slammed those who created it for trying to disrupt PN’s relations with the state’s ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
“Perikatan Nasional Sarawak denies any link (to the poster) and neither are we involved in any propaganda aimed at disrupting the harmony between GPS and PN Sarawak,” said the posting.
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Sarawak, which is the lead party in PN Sarawak, also shared the posting in its own Facebook page.
The poster claimed that PN will field 28 candidates for the 12th State Election and identified the seats they would be contesting.
PN Sarawak chairman Senator Jaziri Alkaf A. Suffian, who also chairs Bersatu Sarawak, is among those named in the poster. He declined further comments on the matter.
Others named included a federal minister, two federal deputy ministers and a state assistant minister. Some of them belong to component parties in GPS.
On April 2, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during his working visit to Kuching played down PN contesting in the state election by saying PN was more concerned about ensuring a big victory for its partner GPS.
Muhyiddin, who is PN chairman and Bersatu president, had said the question of whether Bersatu would be given seats to contest in the State polls was secondary.
As a partner sharing the same struggle in a coalition, Muhyddin added, it was important to ensure that GPS would get solid support from voters to be returned to power with even more seats.
GPS currently holds 68 out of the 82 seats in the State Legislative Assembly.
Bersatu holds one seat through Krian assemblyman Datuk Ali Biju who won the seat on a PKR ticket in the 11th State election in 2016.
Ali, who is also Saratok Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister, was part of the Datuk Seri Azmin Ali-led group which left PKR in February last year before joining Bersatu in August.
On April 4, the PN Supreme Council unanimously agreed to mobilise its machinery at every level to assist the GPS coalition in the coming state election.
PN secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin had said in a statement that the matter was agreed upon at the PN Supreme Council meeting chaired by Muhyiddin. — Borneo Post Online
