Aspirasi to field candidates in Piasau, Pujut
MIRI: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) will field candidates in Piasau and Pujut seats in the 12th State Election and their names will be officially announced soon.
Gabungan Anak Sarawak (Gasak) pro tem secretary Buln Ribos told a press conference yesterday that as Gasak was still waiting for approval from the Registrar of Societies (ROS), its candidates would be contesting under Aspirasi, Sarawak Workers’ Party (SWP) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB).
“Our effort to have Gasak registered in time for the state election is ongoing and if we are unable to do so, we (the candidates) will do so under our respective party’s name,” said Buln, who is also Gasak chairman.
Only Aspirasi, SWP and PBDSB are registered with the ROS.
Buln added that even though seat allocations have yet to be finalised, it was confirmed that Aspirasi would take Pujut and Piasau while PBDSB would take Senadin.
“My role today is to talk about Aspirasi and Gasak as well as our preparation for the election. Even though candidates under Gasak may be contesting under a different party, we seek unity among us to work together rather than against each other because we share the same vision, which is Sarawak rights,” he explained.
Buln confirmed that he would stand in Serembu, Bau his hometown . This would be his second time contesting, the first being the 2016 state election when he contested under State Reform Party.
During the press conference, Buln also introduced Aspirasi’s candidate Erick Chin, an activist and co-founder of Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S).
On the more challenging political scenario, Buln said that political development in recent years were much different compared to several years ago.
“When we first came up fighting for Sarawak’s independence, people were laughing at us. Today, those who opposed us are singing the same tune with us. So the atmosphere of the election this time around would be much, much different where awareness on Sarawak’s rights had been awakened.
“What we are fighting, as seen through our manifesto launched last year, is for the future of Sarawakians. Gasak comprises political parties and NGOs from Sarawak — we know and witnessed how the federal government treated Sarawak and we got a lot of disappointment in return, so we must fight for the rights of Sarawak and the people.
“We may be looking at multicornered fights in these seats but we look at it with a different angle; perhaps we can use this to our advantage,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chin said he had been closely observing the public’s response now compared to when S4S first started in 2013.
“Thus, our focus is to push awareness on Sarawak’s independence and to at least win two seats to put our people in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) to fight for the rights.
“Our manifesto is very clear — independence referendum; land reforms; restoring sovereign food security; rights on education and infrastructure; fighting corruption; homeland security; as well as harmony and unity (with no racial or religious politics),” Chin added.