PKR to defend all seats won in previous polls

MIRI: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) will not cooperate with Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and will defend all the seats won by the party in the last state and parliamentary elections.

PKR Sarawak secretary Joshua Jabeng said the party would not be giving way to incumbent Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian as they no longer regarded him as a long-term partner who could help Pakatan Harapan (PH) defeat the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition.

“Keadilan will not concede the seat of Ba Kalalan to PSB. We will contest all the state or parliamentary seats that were previously won by PKR,” he said in a statement yesterday.

In the 2016 state election, PKR won the seats of Ba Kelalan, Batu Lintang through See Chee How, and Krian through Ali Biju.

Baru, formerly PKR Sarawak chairman, and See have since joined PSB while Ali is with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).

For parliamentary seats, PKR won in four constituencies in the 2018 general election through Baru in Selangau, Ali in Saratok, Willie Mongin in Puncak Borneo and Dr Michael Teo in Miri.

The party added two more MPs into its ranks when Larry Sng and Jugah Muyang, who won as independents in Julau and Lubok Antu respectively, joined the party.

However, Willie is now also with Bersatu together with Ali, while Jugah quit in June last year to once again become an independent MP albeit in support of the Perikatan Nasional federal government and GPS state government.

Sng is currently PKR Sarawak chairman.

Meanwhile, Joshua said Baru’s claim that he was sacked by PKR was untrue as the latter voluntarily left the party as part of a group of 11 MPs led by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali during the country’s political crisis early last year which saw the collapse of the PH administration.

“I have to clear the air on this to avoid confusion among PKR members,” he said.