MIRI, Dec 16 — Chinese voters make up 68 per cent of the electorate in the Pujut seat, but ultimately, it will be the Bumiputera votes which could determine the winner in the 12th Sarawak state election this Saturday.

This is due to fierce competition between Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate Adam Yii Siew Sang, who is Miri mayor, and Sarawak DAP secretary Alan Ling Sie Kiong.

Political veteran Talhah Mansoor, 86, who is a member of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), said that GPS needs to attract Bumiputera voters in its effort to recapture the Pujut seat from DAP.

He said that the competition for the Pujut seat this time was very fierce, moreover it saw a five-cornered fight between candidates from DAP, GPS, Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) and Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi).

He said that all the candidates contesting the Pujut state constituency had their advantages, but there was no denying that the popularity of Yii, 65, who has been Miri mayor since 2016 and also the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Pujut chairman, would be able to attract more votes in the polls on Satuday.

“Adam Yii is a person of calibre and does not practice racism. It is crucial for an elected representative, especially in the Pujut seat, to have such an attitude as this constituency has a multiracial community, such as Chinese, Malay and Dayak,” he told Bernama here today.

The Pujut state seat has been vacant since February last year, when incumbent Dr Ting Tiong Choon, from DAP, was disqualified as a state assemblyman for having dual citizenship, which violated Article 17 (1) (g) of the Sarawak State Constitution.

It will not be easy for Yii to recapture the Pujut state seat, after DAP managed to win the seat from Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 10th state election in 2011 through Fong Pau Teck, thus making Pujut the party’s stronghold. DAP also retained the seat in the last state election in 2016.

Three other contenders for the Pujut seat are Bruce Chai Khim Cheong of PSB, Leslie Ting Siong Ngiap of PBK and Chin Fen Siong of Aspirasi.

In the meantime, Talhah said that voters in the Pujut state constituency need to be aware and ask themselves, what is the progress and development brought by DAP after holding the state seat for the last two terms.

“The progress implemented in Miri, especially in Pujut is an initiative from the state government under the rule of GPS, as well as a development plan by the Miri mayor (Adam Yii) himself,” he added.

Pujut seat has a total of 27,567 registered voters. — Bernama