LAST night, alarm bells rang to signal a new political era and every candidate will be evaluated individually.
If anyone wants to get elected to public office, they should start early. Do not only get close to the people in the constituency after the candidate has been announced.
Candidates should not leave them, there must be an extra effort and responsibility to the people if there is another repeat fight. The reality is, this has happened, a national tsunami with DAP securing five Parliamentary seats in Sarawak.
Many people have expected a different outcome in Mas Gading and Stampin parliamentary seats because both incumbents were facing problems of their own throughout their previous term. However, the electorates in the two constituencies thought otherwise and both Chong Chieng Jen (Stampin) and Mordi Bimol (Mas Gading) were re-elected in the respective constituencies.
In Saturday’s general election results, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) won 22 of the 30 seats announced, with the polls in Baram suspended because of bad weather. Despite falling short of earlier projections, the number of seats won is much better than the 19 won in the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018.
In all of DAP’s traditional seats, GPS only captured Sarikei, where Datuk Seri Huang Tiong Sii pushed newcomer, Roderick Wong Siew Lead aside.
Perikatan Nasional (PN)’s Datuk Ali Biju retained Saratok seat with an increased majority of 8,826 votes compared to 989 votes in 2018, which is certainly expected.
This is because Ali had fully exploited the situation to the maximum, when his rights were denied in the State election last year. Ali in his capacity as a Federal Deputy Minister has benefitted from his personal touch approach to his constituents for more than two years.
Datuk Larry Sng Wei Shen’s win in a four-cornered fight in Julau was also an expected outcome. It was among the four difficult constituencies to be won over by GPS.
Some would opine that the GPS candidate who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum should have allowed the party’s secretary general, Datuk Janang Bunsu to contest there but a change in decision was made at the eleventh hour.
Larry, president of Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), polled 5,407 votes while Salang secured 4,692 votes.
The urban Chinese sentiment votes that have permeated in Kuching, Stampin, Lanang and Sibu have certainly spread to Miri.
Angkatan Muda Keadilan (AMK) Miri chief, Chiew Choon Man had no problems over Jeffery Phang (GPS) and former Miri mayor, Datuk Lawrence Lai (PSB).
Regardless of all that, a win is still a win for GPS, despite winning 22 seats (23 if Baram is included). This opens a new episode for national politics, because any party which wants to form the federal government will have to shake hands with Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari to form a stable government.
The 18 seats won in 2018 had placed GPS as the determining factor and kingmaker, what more to say at 23 seats.
As Abang Johari has said, he now awaits a call from the winning parties in Malaya for a parley to tie the knot and start negotiating for Sarawak rights.
