DAP and PKR to swap Miri and Stampin?

KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak is targeting to win at least eight parliamentary seats in the forthcoming general election (GE14), with marginal seats of Baram and Saratok high on the wanted list.

“We have six in the bag; realistically our target is getting two more from Sarawak to deliver eight for Pakatan Harapan. Sabah can deliver 10 while in Peninsular Malaysia the realistic figure is between 95 and 155 seats,” Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak election director Baharuddin Dato Mokhsen told The Borneo Post.

The six seats that Baharuddin referred to are Miri, Sibu, Lanang, Sarikei, Bandar Kuching and Stampin.

Baharuddin admitted that retaining all the six seats would be a tall order for Pakatan Harapan as Barisan Nasional (BN) would be fielding the best available candidate to steal Miri and Stampin.

“I heard Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) will be fielding its president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian in Stampin. This will pose great challenge for the incumbent Julian Tan. Same goes to Miri, our sole MP from Sarawak Dr Michael Teo will be facing either SUPP secretarygeneral Datuk Sebastian Ting or SUPP publicity chief and Miri mayor Adam Yii,” he said.

Baharuddin was however tightlipped when asked to confirm rumours that Democratic Action Party (DAP) and PKR would be swapping the Miri and Stampin seats for better winning chance.

“I heard about it but it is beyond me to comment on party policy especially when it involves another component party,” he replied.

Speculation is rife that PH Sarawak supporters are concerned that incumbent Julian Tan is no match for Dr Sim, and DAP has better chance of winning if its chairman contests the seat.

To further complicate matters, Dr Teo seems to have lost the strength after the passing of his secretary, Bill Kayong.

Observers noticed that PKR national vice chairwoman Voon Shiak Ni has been making her moves in Miri and is widely tipped to replace Dr Teo.

Unfortunately, Voon and DAP Miri do not have a warm relationship, making it almost impossible for her to secure a victory.

It is understood that some people have been urging PH leadership to seriously consider swapping the seat, and for PKR strongman See Chee How to contest in Stampin and leave Miri to DAP, where its state secretary Alan Ling has better chance to win.

When this was brought up to Baharuddin’s attention, he smiled and replied: “no comment”.

See Chee How was once reported as saying: “I cannot say no” when asked if he would be one of the shortlisted candidates. However, See was quick to rubbish speculation that he would be contesting in Miri, saying “Please don’t speculate. Speculation will have no end”.

Baharuddin, however, was quick to say that the eight seats that he predicted is the minimum and most realistic figure for PH Sarawak.

“We are also having very good chance in Julau and I will talk to a political giant very soon, to work out a formula in Julau so that we have a straight fight there. The same goes to Sri Aman,” he said, adding that with the inclusion of Julau and Sri Aman, PH Sarawak will be able to deliver 10 seats.

Baharuddin believes that the coming general election would see both BN and PH deploying latest technology and using the ‘Big Data’.

“We are going micro targeting now, we must identify the area where we are strong, where we need better logistics and this time it will be very specific. We cannot afford to go around looking for voters who need transportation to vote, etc,” he added.

Baharuddin also said GE14 will be different and they have been warned repeatedly by PKR supremo Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to “never underestimate the wisdom of voters”.