State DAP to use rocket symbol, PKR logo for PKR and Amanah

Voters in Sarawak will see the rocket symbol, logo of Democratic Action Party (DAP), on the ballot papers in this general election.

This is because Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak is not following the decision made by national PH which announced last Friday night that the opposition incumbents and candidates in Peninsular Malaysia will contest under the blue-eye symbol of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in the coming polls.

The national PH comprises four parties - namely DAP, PKR, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi).

At a press conference yesterday, state PH chairman Chong Chieng Jen said DAP Sarawak will be using the rocket symbol whilst PKR Sarawak and Amanan Sarawak will use the blue-eye symbol in the 14th general election (GE14).

“The main consideration is that, given our areas in Sarawak are different from Semenanjung (Peninsular Malaysia), we have decided to maximise our respective chances of victories in the respective areas we will be contesting,” he said after chairing a state PH committee meeting at the DAP Sarawak headquarters here.

Among those present were PKR Sarawak chairman Baru Bian and Amanah Sarawak chairman Fidzuan Zaidi.

Chong, who is state DAP chairman, said the decision to use both the rocket and blueeye symbols was arrived at the meeting.

He asserted that the decision reflected the fact that PH Sarawak comprising DAP Sarawak, PKR Sarawak and Amanah Sarawak” has the full autonomy in deciding matters concerning our party policies in Sarawak”.

However, the same could not be said for Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), which claimed to have the autonomy, he added.

As such, Chong threw a challenge to SUPP, the oldest political party in Sarawak, to use its own party logo - the three-ring symbol - in this general election and not the ‘dacing’ (scale) symbol of Barisan Nasional (BN).

“If they can’t even defend their own logo but have to rely on the ‘dacing’ logo, it only goes to show that their election strategies are dictated by the big brother Umno in Semenanjung,” he added.

Asked why Amanah Sarawak had to go for the blue-eye symbol, Fidzuan admitted that the people of Sarawak were more familiar with the PKR logo as “we want to maximise the campaigning chances to win this GE14”.

Chong appealed to voters in the state to support PH Sarawak, stressing that “GE14 is a lifetime chance for us to change the government”.

“We cannot see any hope for this country if BN continues to govern,” he claimed.