Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) which contested in 49 constituencies in the 10th Sarawak state election was humbled when it won only three, thus dashing the opposition’s dream of setting up the new state government.
Although its partner in the opposition pact, the DAP, won 12 of the 15 seats it contested, PKR failed to win the support of the Sarawak voters despite earlier announcing its plan to appoint its state chairman, Baru Bian as the next chief minister.
PKR had an ambitious plan to dominate Sarawak politics when it fielded 49 candidates which initially overlapped with some constituencies eyed by the DAP and Sarawak National Party (SNAP).
The problem became more serious when on the eve of the nomination day no agreement was reached between SNAP and several PKR national leaders including de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali which led to SNAP announcing that it would contest in 26 constituencies, ignoring the pressure from the DAP and PKR which should have been its allies in facing the BN.
The dispute eventually led to the failure of the opposition pact when PKR, which fielded more candidates compared to the 25 it fielded in 2006, only managed to win three while SNAP, which should have fared better as a local-based party, failed to win even one seat.
A political analyst from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Dr Jeniri Amir said the PKR’s dismal performance was due to, among other things, the problem of the party leader’s integrity.
The people of Sarawak were seen to question Anwar’s credibility with regard to the sodomy case which was still on-going, the sex video issue where the male performer allegedly looked like the opposition leader and, the latest, the public disclosure by Malaysia Today news portal operator Raja Petra Kamaruddin in an exclusive interview with TV3 recently.
As for Baru Bian, he finally succeeded in his third attempt to capture the Ba’Kelalan seat, beating the BN candidate from the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) Willie Liau, with a slim majority of 473 votes.
Looking at the statistics, the total of 117,700 votes received by the PKR candidates was rather high but it was not an indication that the party was popular with the local people, on the other hand the support was perceived as protest votes against the state government leadership which had been holding to power for too long.
Six of the 49 PKR candidates and 25 of the 26 SNAP candidates lost their deposit for failing to get one-eighth of the total votes cast.
According to political analysts, the voters in Sarawak found it hard to accept the emergence of political parties from the peninsula including the PKR itself.
Their aggressive campaigning style which often caused provocations could not be accepted by the locals who were noted for their courtesy and mutual respect.
As for SNAP, an Iban-majority party which only came back to life last year, it not only failed but it was also suggested that the party closed shop and cooperate with the BN in championing the cause of the rural settlers.
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Dr James Masing made the suggestion following the party’s failure to win any seat in the just-concluded state election.
— BERNAMA
