Najib worried over splits in Sarawak BN

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak cannot afford to lose seats in Sarawak hence his terse warning to state party leaders in Sibu recently.

KUCHING: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is so worried about Barisan Nasional’s “fixed deposit” in Sarawak that he has now taken over the task of selecting candidates of component parties for the coming general election.

Previously, Najib, who is the BN chairman, merely endorsed the candidates proposed by the component parties, but this time he wants to exercise his rights to veto candidates proposed to ensure only “winnable” candidates are fielded.

His worry comes from the fact that the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (DAP, PKR and PAS) is making inroads not only in the urban areas, but also in the rural sector, if attendances to their dinners-cum-political talks are anything to go by.

Najib knows that if any significant number of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak goes to the opposition, his government will be in trouble.

He is particularly concerned over the squabbles between the two BN component parties – Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS). At risk here are 10 rural seats.

SPDP has four parliamentary seats, namely Mas Gading, Saratok, Baram and Bintulu whereas PRS has six seats – Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Julau, Kanowit, Selangau and Hulu Rajang.

The bickering between SPDP and PRS is expected to undermine each other’s strength in the 10 seats. So far, peace efforts by the two parties have ended dismally.

Moreover, for SPDP, its chances of retaining its four seats have been further minimised since its former leaders who are simply known as “G5” are putting up their own candidates in the seats allocated to the party.

Although the “G5” elected representatives claim to be BN-friendly, their efforts are certain to split the BN support.

More woes for Najib

Likewise, PRS has a similar problem in Hulu Rajang where its president, James Masing, has announced that the candidate for the seat is his private secretary Wilson Ugak Kumbong.

This is at the expense of the five-term MP Billy Abit Joo who is still popular.

Abit’s exclusion is certain to antagonise his supporters who are mostly the Orang Ulu voters.

In fact, in the coming election, the more than 7,700 Orang Ulu voters will be the “king-maker” if two Iban candidates are contesting the seat.

Besides Ugak, it is understood that George Lagong, the independent assemblyman for Pelagus and now deputy president of Sarawak Workers Party (SWP), will be contesting the seat where there are about 11,700 Iban voters.

The opposition PKR is likely to put up lawyer Abun Sui Anyit as its candidate for the constituency.

Meanwhile, Najib is also concerned with what is going on in Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) which is split between two rival groups – one led by the president Peter Chin and the other by Wong Soon Koh, the former deputy secretary-general.

Chin is seen as Najib’s man and Wong as Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s ally.

Both groups have submitted a separate list of candidates for the seven seats allocated to SUPP to the prime minister.

Due to the internal bickering, at least six of the seats are in danger of falling into the hands of the opposition.

Knowing the situation very well, Najib went to Sibu recently to talk things over with Wong and his supporters and at the same time to woo back the Chinese support for SUPP and BN.

‘I want winnable candidates only’

Expressing his deep concern, Najib wanted the three “troubled” parties (SPDP, PRS and SUPP) to give him winnable candidates.

He wanted at least two candidates for each constituency for him to choose from and had cautioned state party leaders against nominating party members they favoured at the expense of more winnable candidates who are not in their good books.

“Please give me only the winnable candidates and I want only winnable candidates. I don’t want your favourite persons to be candidates,” the BN chairman was quoted as saying.

He said that it was pointless for party presidents to strengthen their position in the party but lose the parliamentary or state election.

“Sometimes we think that winning party elections is more important than winning elections. So we put up candidates who could strengthen our positions in the party. But at the end of the day the BN doesn’t win.

“Then we cannot form the government. So if we cannot form a government, then what is the point of being a president of a party?

“That doesn’t make sense because you are only shooting yourself in the foot,” Najib warned, pointing out that only by winning the next election would the BN be able to form the next federal government.

“If we can form the federal government, I will be able to develop Sarawak. And I want to do more for Sarawak,” Najib promised.