PH confident of trumping GPS in 2021 state polls, says Chong
KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen is upbeat on the coalition’s chances to take over the Sarawak government in the next state election, due in 2021.
The Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, who is also DAP Sarawak chairman, said PH’s confidence was based on the result of the 14th General Election, in which PH Sarawak won six out of 15 Bumiputera-majority parliamentary seats.
The seats won were Mas Gading, Puncak Borneo, Saratok, Selangau, Lubok Antu and Julau.
“The seats were won against all odds as all the machinery was under Barisan Nasional at the time. Now that PH has taken over the federal government, it is definitely (going to be) different,” he said during Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) Sarawak’s ‘Gawai Raya’ celebration, held at Matang Jaya here on Monday.
Chong also assured the people that the federal government would not restrict the freedom of any voter during the coming state election.
Meanwhile, Chong once again defended Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over the latter’s ‘bankrupt in three years’ remark, saying the people needed to understand what Lim had meant when he said the state would
The seats were won against all odds as all the machinery was under Barisan Nasional at the time. Now that PH has taken over the federal government, it is definitely (going to be) different.
Chong Chieng Jen
go bankrupt in three years if Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) were to remain in power.
According to him, Lim had meant that if the GPS government were to continue spending on ‘mega’ projects such as the Light Rail Transit (LRT), cargo plane to transport Sarawak’s agriculture produce to Singapore, coastal road, second trunk road, and construction of telecommunication towers, the state would risk going bankrupt in three years.
“Lim is finance minister and surely he knows what he is talking about. The projects announced by GPS will require billions of ringgit to be spent,” he said.