KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is ready to continue negotiating with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties in Sarawak, including DAP, to work together in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Its newly elected party secretary-general Baru Bian said all the opposition parties in Sarawak should come together to ensure a straight fight against Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
“We must learn from the outcome of the last state election, where GPS won 76 out of 82 state seats in Sarawak. So, we can’t deny the fact that GPS is very strong and the number of seats they won is huge.”
“Thus, when we say all opposition parties, I think we should include DAP… We have to work together despite some differences,” he told the reporters at a press conference held after the PSB 3rd Triennial Delegates Conference here today.
Baru, who is Selangau MP and Ba Kelalan assemblyman, said the opposition parties must come to an understanding that their common enemy would be GPS in Sarawak and Perikatan Nasional (PN) at the federal level.
“As long as GE15 is not yet here, I strongly believe there is room for negotiation,” he added.
Meanwhile, PSB President Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh also agreed that the opposition parties in Sarawak should try their best to work together.
“Yes, we also try to talk to DAP, PKR, Amanah…,” he said.
“We are going into the parliamentary election; where not a single party can say that they can form the government. We all have equal chances.”
“Thus, we hope we can be part of the government that has the mandate from the people,” he added.
When asked about the negotiation between PSB and four other local parties, namely Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (SEDAR), Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) and Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) on seat distribution in the GE15, Wong said that the five local parties were doing fine.
“So far, we are doing fine, we are likely to have only one candidate from one party in most of the seats, except one or two – that we couldn’t agree – then, we might have three-cornered or four-cornered fights. But, it’s alright, we are still trying our best to avoid that,” he said.
The Bawang Assan assemblyman also said his party would focus on winnable seats only in the upcoming parliamentary election, most likely to contest about 10 or fewer seats.
“We will not contest too many seats, most probably 10 or less than that. We want to focus and conserve our resources for seats that are more winnable,” he said.
On the PSB central committee members (2022-2024), Wong has remained as the party president while Engkilili assemblyman Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa is now the deputy president.
