Sarawak DAP has again protested against Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) move to seek a state election.
It was concerned that polls during a pandemic would tip the scales heavily in favour of the incumbent government, possibly causing a “total wipeout” of the opposition.
Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen also criticised GPS for denying young voters their right to vote if the polls are held before Undi18 can be implemented.
He further lambasted GPS for putting Sarawakians at risk of contracting Covid-19.
“GPS is willing to jeopardise our lives and economy for their political gain.
“What is their gain? The advantage of not having the 18 to 21-year-olds to vote (and) the advantage of running an election where it will be a campaign-less election. Where there will be no ceramahs - as the SOPs in Malacca have shown - and no house-to-house visits.
“(This is) while the caretaker government can go about meeting the people, dishing out goodies, organising programmes, and even having their own so-called ceramah under the guise of government programmes,” he said in a broadcasted press conference this afternoon.
Elaborating, Chong lamented that DAP will be entering this election “with both hands and both legs tied”.
He stressed that it was not in the public interest to have a reduced or non-existent opposition.
“I think the effect of such an election will be there may be a risk of total wipeout of opposition in the state.
“If there is a total wipeout of the opposition in the state, (the Covid-19) situation will be even worse.
“I think it is not to the benefit of Sarawak and the people of Sarawak that the state legislative assembly will return to the Taib era where there are no opposition voices in the assembly.
“And this is exactly what GPS has intended with this Covid-19 election,” he claimed.
Taib refers to former Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who now serves as the state governor.
GPS has governed Sarawak since 2018 with a supermajority of 69 seats in the 82-seat assembly.
The opposition - comprising DAP and PSB - had a total of 11 seats.
Challenging Johari's justification
The Sarawak legislative assembly's term expired on June 7. However, in effect at the time was a state of emergency that postponed the automatic dissolution of the state assembly until Feb 2, 2022.
Caretaker chief minister and GPS chairperson Abang Johari Openg previously announced that the state legislative assembly was dissolved on Nov 3.
This comes after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong assented to lifting the localised emergency in Sarawak on that same day. The long-delayed Sarawak election must now be held within 60 days from Nov 3.
According to Johari, GPS had petitioned for the localised emergency to be lifted ahead of its Feb 2, 2022 expiry date in order to protect the state constitution, the Federal Constitution and to "safeguards the rights of the people to choose their own government".
He further said that GPS would be betraying its oath to Sarawakians should they further extend their stay "under the veil of a state of emergency".
Today, Chong challenged that narrative.
"If he (Johari) truly respects the spirit of democracy, he should have held the election within the first year of him becoming the chief minister.
"He inherited his chief minister position from the late Adenan Satem, who passed on in 2017. If Johari has the dignity and truly respected the spirit of democracy and wished to have his own mandate to govern the state, he would have held the election in 2018 or 2019.
"But he did not do that. He waited four years and how he is trying to tell Sarawakians that cannot wait another three months for Covid-19 to subside," he remarked.
The Election Commission has yet to announce dates for the Sarawak election. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.