KUCHING: Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to continue defending the Saratok parliamentary seat.
Youth chief David Yeo said that dispute should not be happening over the seat as well.
“Before this, PDP did offer Datuk Ali Biju to join the party and contest in Saratok under Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) but the offer was eventually rejected,” he said.
He added that since Saratok was usually contested by PDP, whether or not Ali Biju from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) contests or not, there was no denying that a candidate from PDP approved by GPS would continue to defend the seat.
Yeo was responding to a statement by Sarawak Perikatan Nasional (PN) Youth chief Alexander Frusis who suggested that PDP not put any candidate in Saratok for the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15), instead give way to Ali Biju.
“There is no such thing as ‘surrender’ seat or giving way to somebody.
“The GPS supreme council at first sided with the PDP campaign in Krian, and our party only consulted Ali Biju to gain support. He was even offered to join PDP so that he could provide his service to Sarawakians in future,” Yeo said.
“There’s a lot of preparation to be done for the upcoming election. When we were not able to give an answer, we did not have any choice but to suggest to Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg that the candidate who will contest in Saratok is Giendam Jonathan,” he added.
“If Bersatu insists on contesting any parliamentary constituency owned by PDP, then we will fight hard.
“We give back the power to the voters to make a right decision,” Yeo said.
Alexander had earlier said PN would not be contesting in seats contested by candidates from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).
“This is because of PDP not respecting the 12th Sarawak Election agreement, where Datuk Ali Biju was asked to hand over the Krian state seat to PDP,” he wrote in his social media page.
