KUCHING, Nov 22 — Sarawak PKR information chief Abun Sui Anyit today said that the party will not be making any changes in its strategy for the Sarawak state election just because of the disastrous performance by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Melaka state election.
He pointed out that the issues in Sarawak are completely different from those that were raised by contesting parties in Melaka.
“Our issues are about bread-and-butter. We want better road infrastructure, treated water and electricity supplies in the rural areas, dilapidated schools, problems relating to native customary rights (NCR) land and so on,” he said when asked if PKR would make drastic changes to its election strategy for the upcoming state election.
“You don’t find those issues in Melaka. Moreover, when they talk about rural areas in Melaka, they are actually talking about small towns,” Abun said.
He said Sarawak voters would not be influenced by the outcome of the Melaka state election.
“The outcome of the Melaka state election should not be used as a parameter to gauge the support of people in Sarawak on their choice of parties,” he said.
In the Melaka state election, PKR failed to win any seat while its PH partners, DAP won four seats while Amanah won one.
Barisan Nasional (BN) won 21 out of 28 seats while Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) managed to win two seats.
Abun said the state PKR is negotiating with the DAP to put candidates in Senadin and Piasau, two of the three seats under Miri parliamentary constituency, in the state election.
DAP lost in Senadin and Piasau to Sarawak United People’s Party-Barisan Nasional (SUPP-BN) in 2016 in the state election.
The third seat is Pujut which was won by the DAP.
“In the 2018 general election, PKR won more votes than SUPP-BN in all the three seats under the Miri parliamentary constituency,” he said.
Abun said the state PKR is staking claims on Senadin and Piasau based on the 2018 general election result in Miri constituency.
“Moreover, Senadin has about 60 per cent Bumiputera voters while Piasau has 40 per cent Bumiputera voters,” he said.
Abun added the state PKR had proposed his name to contest in Senadin while Miri Member of Parliament Dr Michael Teo in Piasau.
