KUCHING: It is a mission impossible for the Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) and local opposition parties to come together in the 15th general election (GE15) as their egos are ‘just too big’, said political analyst Professor James Chin.
The director of Asia Institute, University of Tasmania said this was despite the fact that they knew the major reason for their defeat in the Sarawak election in December last year was due to the divided opposition parties in the state.
For instance, he said, DAP lost Bukit Assek and Pelawan state seats as many votes went to Parti Bumi Kenyalang, another local opposition party, which in the end, benefited the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
“Although the opposition parties have been trying to find some sort of election pact since their defeat in the Sarawak election, things just don’t really work.
“Looking at the personalities of the opposition leaders in Sarawak, they would rather lose in the elections than to compromise on seats they are going to contest in GE15,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
Chin was commenting on Sarawak PH’s announcement that they were willing to explore cooperation with any non-GPS parties for the next general election.
Its chairman Chong Chieng Jen said PH was ready to form an electoral pact to avoid multi-cornered fights, which would only increase the chances of GPS winning.
However, Chong, who is also state DAP chairman, also made it clear that seats currently held by his party would definitely be non-negotiable.
Chin said this ‘open for negotiation’ was nothing new but it may not work as the opposition leaders would be unlikely to compromise on the seats they will contest in GE15.
“For sure, Sarawak PH would only allow seats that are not held by them to be open for negotiations, however, the problem is that Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is also eyeing the Chinese-majority seats in Kuching and Sibu, which are currently held by the DAP,” he said.
Meanwhile, other Sarawak opposition parties like, PBK, Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi), Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) and Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (Sedar) have also raised similar proposals to work together in GE15.
Chin said this was because they were aware that this would be the last chance for the opposition parties to show that they can be united and to ensure one-on-one fight against the GPS.
Last month, Chong was reported saying that the seat negotiations between DAP and PSB for the coming general election have reached a stalemate over PSB’s demand to contest in one of the seats held by DAP.
He said the negotiations should only involve the seats not won by the opposition parties in the last polls, while the seats currently held by both parties were off limits.
