Baru tells KL, Sarawak leaders will decide on seats

Pakatan Harapan Sarawak exercises veto power and has taken back the mandate given to the national leadership to decide on the allocation of seats.

KUCHING: Sarawak Opposition Chief Baru Bian has confirmed that the Majlis Pimpinan Negeri (MPN), State Leadership Council Sarawak, has taken back the mandate given to the leadership in Kuala Lumpur to decide on the allocation of seats for the forthcoming Sarawak state election.

“We will make the final decisions on the seats we are contesting based on our KPI (Key Performance Index) results.”

“Our decisions will be based purely on the winnability of our candidates, and not for any other reasons.”

Baru, who is also PKR Sarawak Chairman, disclosed that MPN Sarawak had indicated to the national leaders that it was unable to accept the decisions made at their level in so far as the allocation of seats was concerned.

He conceded that the air has been thick with speculation about the seat allocations among PH parties. “Whilst the negotiations at the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council level have not been finalized, we have received some indications that the negotiations have been steered in a direction that was against the mandate of MPN Sarawak.”

“It should be noted that we would have preferred to have carried on with negotiations at the local level but we acquiesced when DAP asked for talks to be moved to the national level.”

It must also be noted, said Baru, that MPN Sarawak had stipulated to the national leaders at the outset that should the talks be moved to the national level, it reserved veto powers if the decisions made are not in keeping with the mandate. “We are appreciative of the efforts of several of our national leaders in negotiating on our behalf in Kuala Lumpur.”

Unfortunately, he lamented, what has been communicated to PH Sarawak at this stage, pertaining to the allocation of seats, was not in line with what had been decided at the state level.

“For the sake of fairness to our local members, and in order to uphold the integrity of MPN Sarawak with regards to our duty and undertaking to our potential candidates, we have made the decision to exercise our veto powers reserved at the outset.”

Baru believes that in taking back the mandate, it was merely giving effect to the autonomy that has been acknowledged by the national leaders as being their right.

“We trust that they will accept our decision, as this would be a positive indicator of their stand vis a vis the autonomy of Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia, and the position they will take when the Opposition finally gets the mandate to govern the country.”

Moreover, explained Baru, “we have been very accommodating in our seat claims.”

“This time, PKR Sarawak for example staked claim to only 40 seats, as opposed to the 49 seats that it contested at the last elections.”

With the increase of 11 seats in Sarawak, PKR Sarawak’s claims have not increased but in fact reduced. “PKR Sarawak was always willing to share, and have indeed shared, more seats with its Pakatan Harapan (PH) partners.”

“We believe that we have been upfront and open with our partners at all times and we have always accorded the respect and honour due to our partners within the coalition.”

He expressed regrets that “certain parties” have seen fit to jeopardize the opposition coalition’s potential to increase its seats in the coming elections by their conduct these past few months whilst negotiations were taking place.

For this reason, continued Baru, MPN Sarawak firmly believes that it must resume control of its destiny in this 11th Sarawak Elections. “We are the people of Sarawak and we must do what is best for Sarawak.”