SIBU: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) has stopped negotiating with Democratic Action Party (DAP) on seats allocation for the upcoming 15th general election (GE15).
Its president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh said the parties could not carry on with the discussions (on seat allocation) as DAP had insisted they would not give way on their incumbent urban seats.
“DAP is saying that they must retain all their incumbent seat, in other words all the urban seats are out of bound (PSB cannot contest in), they say you (PSB) can go to the rural areas which means we have to fight in the Dayak seats.
“Urban seat not even one for us (PSB). So then we cannot carry on (the discussion),” Wong said at a press conference after chairing PSB’s first central committee meeting here yesterday (Sept 5).
He added that PSB would contest in 10 to 12 parliamentary seats in the upcoming general election (GE15), pointing out that five of the seats have been announced so far.
PSB vice president, Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa will contest the Lubok Antu seat, he said.
“For Sri Aman we will field Wilson Entabang. In Miri, we will field ex-mayor Datuk Lawrence Lai and of course, Baru Bian will either defend his Selangau seat or he may move to Lawas which is part of the Ba’kelalan state seat.”
Wong, who will be contesting in the Sibu parliament seat, also said that PSB would contest in seats that they found winnable after further discussions with other Sarawak local based parties.
“We have to talk to other local based parties – Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (SEDAR), Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) and Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi).
“We hope to form a united front. Where we disagree then we will find it out but as much as possible we would like to form a united front so it could become a greater force to be reckoned with,” he said.
On yesterday’s meeting, Wong said that the gist of the meeting was about preparation for the upcoming GE-15.
“We discussed seats that we are going to contest and we also talk about the important issues that would be highlighted during the election which will be reflected in our manifesto.
“We also discussed some of the strategies to move forward and so on but at this stage, we cannot disclose; that’s why we have closed door meeting just now,” he said.
