PBB meets amid speculation on Sarawak polls
KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) held a special closed-door meeting at its headquarters here today amid speculations that the state polls will be held soon.
Furthermore, it comes just after Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and party chiefs in PBB-led Gabung Parti Sarawak (GPS) had voiced support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at a meeting with the prime minister in Putrajaya on Wednesday.
Today’s meeting has set tongues wagging that the 12th state election was imminent.
Abang Johari, who is also PBB president, arrived at the PBB HQ at 10.45am and is believed to have chaired the meeting that was scheduled to start at 11am.
Also seen entering the building were deputy chief ministers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan — both of whom are deputy presidents of the party — and other PBB supreme council members, among them Senior Minister (Infrastructure) and Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
Besides them, several Cabinet ministers were also seen entering the building, among them Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah and Assistant Minister for Ports and Infrastructure, Datuk Julaihi Narawi.
The 11th state election was held on May 7, 2016 and the 12th has to be held by July 2021.
However, based on previous records, the state usually holds its elections a year early.
In the 11th state election, the four component parties in Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) won 72 seats out of the 82 at stake. However, following BN’s defeat in the 14th general election in May 2018, the four — PBB, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) — left BN on June 12, 2018 and formed GPS. – Bernama
