Masing Good Time For Sarawak To Hold State Polls

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The ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) expects PKR and DAP will be their opponents in the coming state election.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing said Perikatan Nasional should not contest as GPS was its friend.
“We are in the same longhouse now. I don’t think we should be fighting each other. I hope Perikatan will not be interested in the next Sarawak election. Our main fight most likely will be (against) PKR and DAP, ” he said yesterday.
GPS is not a member of Perikatan but is friendly to the new Federal Government after throwing its support behind Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to become Prime Minister.
Masing also said he believed the state election could be held this year as the Sarawak government was now into the fourth year of its current mandate.
“Normally this is (the time) when you get yourself really ready to run for election after the fourth year. One of the reasons is that after four years, we normally go back to the people and let them decide whether they still want us again, ” he said.
Masing added that it was also an advantage for GPS to hold the polls this year as the opposition was currently in disarray.
“They are yet to get themselves together and it’s the best time to go after them. Once they get united we’ll have a tougher fight.
“At the moment they are not there yet. Unfortunately or fortunately, they are in disarray and this is the fourth year so it coincides nicely, ” he said after handing over minor rural project grants to 35 organisations.
The next state election is due by the middle of next year. Since 1991, the state polls have been held every five years.
In the 2016 election, the then state Barisan Nasional swept to a landslide victory, winning 72 of the 82 seats.
It pulled out of Barisan after GE14 to form GPS as an independent state-based coalition.
The Star

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