PBDS Baru to contest in 10 seats in GE14 – President

KUCHING: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) Baru will be contesting in 10 parliamentary seats in the coming 14th general election (GE14).

Its president Cobbold John Lusoi said the party had identified its potential candidates, including one woman, to contest in the 10 seats.

“Our woman candidate is Sylvia John Gemok, who is the former State Reform Party (STAR) women chief.

“Our other candidates are Rapelson Richard, our youth chief, and myself. We will reveal the names of the rest after the dissolution of Parliament,” he told a press conference after the launch of ‘Buletin PBDS Baru' here yesterday.

Cobbold, however, declined to reveal the parliamentary seats the party intends to contest, saying the announcement will be made after the final discussion with the party's partner in the United Borneo Alliance (UBA) – Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku – here on March 31.

The rebranded Sabah-based party headed by Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan was formerly STAR Sabah. However, it still maintains the acronym 'STAR'.

On Jan 29, PBDS Baru and STAR Sabah signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic alliance, whose main agenda is to uphold the Borneo Agenda –The Revolutionary Change.

Cobbold said as Jeffrey is barred from entering Sarawak, STAR Sabah would be sending its representative for the meeting here.

He said UBA is expected to contest in 20 parliamentary seats in Sarawak – 10 by PBDS Baru and 10 by STAR Sabah.

“Our seats allocation would be finalised during our final discussion on March 31. After that discussion, we will announce the seats that PBDS Baru and STAR Sabah intend to contest,” he said.

Cobbold added the UBA manifesto would also be announced on that day, indicating that the gist of the manifesto highlights the alliance's struggle for Borneo rights and resources, the Malaysia Agreement 1963, Petroleum Development Act, goods and services tax (GST) and native customary rights (NCR) land.