PBK ready to contest Tasik Biru state seat

KUCHING: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) is all set to contest the Tasik Biru state seat, which is likely to witness no less than a four-cornered fight in the coming state election.

Tasik Biru PBK election director Alim Mideh said the party had identified a businessman in the oil and gas industry as its potential candidate.

He said the 61-year-old from Singgai is likely to be the party candidate because the latter believes that Sarawak deserves a better government that can deliver better governance and therefore better facilities to the citizens.

“He (the potential candidate) also believes that the only party which has that ideal and commitment to do so is PBK, led by a very brave and knowledgeable Voon Lee Shan,” he said.

Alim, however, said they are leaving it to the top party leadership to announce the candidate’s name.

He believes that PBK has a fair chance in Tasik Biru, considering the interesting fact that was agreed sometime in 1995 between Bidayuh leaders (Dato Peter Minos and

John Nyigor for BratakJagoi and Datuk Wilfred Nissom for Singai) that the state seat be reserved for a person from the Singgai community while the parliament seat is reserved for the Bratak-Jagoi community.

“If we still respect what our leaders have agreed upon, the Bidayuhs in Tasik Biru should therefore not vote for the `recycled’ Dr Tiki Lafe of Parti Bersatu Sarawak (PSB).

“Thus, the remaining choices for the voters in Tasik Biru will be PBK, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Gabungan Parti Satawak (GPS), which will all be fielding a BiSinggai (resident of Singgai),” he said.

Alim said since DAP is a Malayan party, Sarawak nationalists should not support DAP, which is a component of Pakatan Harapan (PH).

This leaves the choice between PBK and GPS, he added.

But the better choice, he stressed, is to vote for PBK with its battle cry `In Quest For Independence’ unlike the other party which he said is subservient to Malayan politics.

Tasik Biru is currently held by Dato Henry Harry Jinep of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), a component of GPS.

In the 2016 state election, Jinep, a first-term assemblyman, won the predominantly Bidayuh seat with a 1,288-vote majority after he polled 6,922 votes in a straight fight with Mordi Bimol of DAP, who garnered 5,634 votes.