Sarawak general election results show that if there is PH-PSB co-operation, DAP will have seven and PSB six Sarawak State Assembly seats instead of the present two for DAP and four for PSB
The Sarawak general election results on Dec. 18, 2021 show that if there is Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) co-operation, the DAP will have seven and PSB six Sarawak State Assembly seats instead of the present two for DAP and four for PSB.
DAP would have won five more seats apart from Padungan and Pending, namely Pujut in Miri, Tanjong Batu in Bintulu, Pelawan and Bukit Assek in Sibu and Kota Sentosa in Kuching while PSB would have won two more seats in apart from Bawang Assam, Ba’kelalan, Batu Lintang and Engkilili, namely Ngemah and Simanggang.
Just as I said when I campaigned for the three seats of Pujut, Piasau and Senadin in Miri, the DAP Sarawak objective in the 2021 Sarawak general election is to preserve the “roots” for change and betterment to ensure that there is a better tomorrow for Sarawak and Malaysia.
DAP has gone through three Covid state general elections in Sabah, Malacca and Sarawak in the past two years and we must learn from these three general elections.
The challenge is whether it is possible for Pakatan Harapan and Parti Sarawak Bersatu to co-operate in the interests of the people of Sarawak, especially at a critical juncture of Malaysia’s development when, among other things, the Federal Government is tryingto undo the 45-year injustices created by the 1976 Constitution Amendment Act which downgraded Sarawak and Sabah from two of the four territories which formed Malaysia in 1963 – Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah – to two of the 13 Malaysian states with far-reaching implications in terms of fair financial allocations, true autonomy rights in education and health, proper allocation of oil funds and equitable development expenditures in accordance with Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Hence the 2021 Constitution Amendment Bill which was unanimously passed with the requisite two-thirds parliamentary majority on Dec. 14, 2021 to fulfil one the leading demands of the confidence-supply-reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and the four Pakatan Harapan leaders on Sept. 13, 2021.
DAP should be rewarded for the nine DAP MPs who opposed the 1976 Constitution Amendment Act 45 years ago, but instead DAP and Pakatan Harapan candidates were punished for failure of the PH government to fulfil election pledges in 22 months when the PH government were given a five-year mandate to fulfil these pledges.
The PH government would be able to accelerate the fulfilment of its election pledges in the second half of its five-year term if it had been slow in the first half of its term.
But the PH government was overthrown in an undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegitimate Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020.
Whether DAP and PH in Sarawak can come to some form of electoral co-operation with PSB will be up to the Sarawak DAP and PH leaders as well as the PSB leaders, but the people should get a clear message that although the DAP in Sarawak is down from the finest day of the 2011 Sarawak general election, it is not out as it is determined to regain its former strength and position as the repository of hope and confidence for a better tomorrow for both the people of Sarawak and Malaysia.