Time for SUPP, UPP to patch up, says political analyst
If they could bury the hatchet, I believe they could recapture Sarikei and Sibu in the 14th general election (GE14), which could be held sometime in March next year.
KUCHING: The time is now opportune for both Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) and United People’s Party ( UPP) to bury the hatchet for the good of Barisan Nasional ( BN) and the Chinese community whom they represent, opines Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas) academician Assoc Prof Dr Jeniri Amir.
The political analyst said the two Chinese-based parties should no longer operate separately; instead, they must focus on the need to serve the Chinese community the best that they could – through BN.
“If they could bury the hatchet, I believe they could recapture Sarikei and Sibu in the 14th general election ( GE14), which could be held sometime in March next year.
“That being said, if SUPP and UPP could work together, BN Sarawak could increase their present seats from 25 to 27 in GE14,” he told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
Jeniri, a former journalist, stressed that time is of the essence for the two parties now to patch up and join forces.
“The way I see it, it’s now or never. The conf licts and differences between the two parties must be set aside, towards winning as many seats as possible. This way, they will be able to
Assoc Prof Dr Jeniri Amir, Unimas professor and political analyst
voice the needs of the Chinese community in Parliament,” said Jeniri.
In GE13, SUPP lost all its seven seats except Serian, which was won by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot.
On the overall political scenario in the country, Jeniri stressed that BN could still retain Putrajaya – albeit with reduced majority.
“In Peninsular Malaysia, PAS is going to play a kingmaker’s role. That’s why Umno is keen to cooperate with PAS on major issues. As for Sabah, it’s going to be tricky because of various factors, which include the Datuk Seri Shafiee Apdal’s factor in the opposition front.
“But Putrajaya will definitely be able to count on Sarawak to deliver. And I believe Sarawak could deliver with two extra seats, as I have mentioned earlier,” he said, adding that the three BN Sarawak component parties – PBB, PRS and PDP – should be able to achieve 100- per cent victory.
In the 2013 parliamentary polls, BN won 25 out of 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak.
On a separate issue, Jeniri disagreed with Minister of Communications Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak’s prediction that online news and the social media would determine the outcome of GE14.
“This is because the vast majority of the voters in the country are still rural-based – this is also true here in Sarawak.”
However, Jeniri said this scenario would be true in the urban areas, where the voters have better access to the latest issues via the Internet.
Still, Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, who is also BN Sarawak secretarygeneral, agreed with Salleh on the majority of Malaysians having easy access to the Internet.
“And that is the most commonlyused medium of dissemination, especially among the younger generation.”
Nevertheless, Dr Rundi also emphasised that BN Sarawak must improve its election machinery so that it could cover young voters in its campaigns via its quick response unit.
“Our campaign machinery must be efficient. As a matter of fact, we were doing just that in the last few elections – except that we’re trying to enhance the effectiveness and speed of relaying the messages or information, as the opposition too is getting more sophisticated,” he stressed.