Any bid to rush Sarawak polls is an attempt to deny Undi18 - PSB

 

Any attempts to bring forward the Sarawak election would be seen as trying to deny those aged 18 to 20 the right to vote, Parti Sarawak Bersatu said.

This is amid speculations of lobbying in Sarawak to hold the state's polls together with the Malacca election, which is due within 60 days from Oct 4.

In a statement, PSB president Wong Soon Koh (above) noted that the Sarawak polls had been postponed until February 2022 through a localised emergency.

However, he added that this was before the High Court in Kuching ordered the government to implement the new voting age of 18 by the end of the year. 

Wong said if the Sarawak election was rushed before the end of the year, then "there is only one motive and it is to avoid Undi18".

"By Dec 31, there will be a big group of additional young voters who will cast their votes.

"The Sarawak emergency will end in February 2022 and, by then, this big bloc of new voters will be able to exercise their fundamental constitutional right to have a say in the choice of the next government of Sarawak," he said.

Wong added that Sarawak was now also seeing more Covid-19 cases compared to when the localised emergency was declared.

He said if an emergency was deemed necessary due to the Covid-19 pandemic, then logic dictates that it was needed now, more than before.

'Frontliners are exhausted'

Wong urged parties in the state ruling coalition to oppose any plans to hold the Sarawak polls before the emergency expires.

"Our frontliners have been suffering and are exhausted. Any surge in the pandemic numbers will place an intolerable burden on them as well as on healthcare facilities," he said.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the date of the Malacca state election afternoon.

The Malacca election was triggered after the Umno-Bersatu state government lost its majority, prompting then chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali to seek a dissolution of the state assembly. The dissolution took effect on Oct 5. 

There is no indication yet that the federal government will seek a localised emergency in Malacca.

The term of the Sarawak assembly expired June 7 and an election was supposed to be called within 60 days, but the localised emergency was declared to postpone the polls.  - Mkini