PKR's position on Jepak polls still unclear

Sarawak PKR's stand on the upcoming Jepak by-election will only be known a few days before the nomination process on Oct 21, said Sarawak PKR Youth chief Chiew Choon Man.

He also said the party was mulling various options including backing Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), the ruling coalition in Sarawak which will be fielding a Parti Pesaka Bumiputera (PBB) member as its candidate.

"We will respect the decision made by our central leadership council. For us, our main concern is the unity government at the federal (level) because we need to ensure that we have a stable government to do the best for the people," said Chiew (above), according to Borneo Post.

There have been mixed signals coming from PKR regarding the Jepak polls.

While Sarawak PKR deputy chief Abun Sui has publicly claimed that the state leadership wanted to stay out of the polls, Sarawak PKR chief Roland Engan said the matter has been deferred to the party's national leadership.

Jepak DAP chief Tonny Ung has urged PKR to field a candidate to act as a check and balance mechanism, while Sarawak DAP leaders have not made their positions known.

The late Talib Zulpilip

The Jepak seat became vacant following the death of its six-time incumbent Talib Zulpilip. During the 2021 Sarawak legislative assembly elections, Talib retained the seat by a landslide, winning 69.4 percent of the votes.

So far, the only opposition party that has shown interest in participating in the Jepak polls is Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi).

Aspirasi, which has never won an election before, had on Sept 28 said it was in the process of vetting candidates and promised that their candidate would be a local who is capable of speaking up for the community.

When contacted, Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan said his party was still mulling whether to join the Jepak polls.

"We'll know in a few days," he told Malaysiakini.