SIBU – Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) candidate for the Sibu constituency in the 15th general election (GE15) must be able to recapture the seat from the opposition, said Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee.
The Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Nangka branch chairman added that the candidate must be able to woo the young voters and focus on solving local issues.
“We cannot lose Sibu anymore this time because we do not want to make the constituency a traditionally lost seat for GPS.
“The candidate to be fielded by GPS in Sibu can be anyone from the component parties but he must be able to win the election, able to attract young voters as much as possible and focus on solving local issues.
“It does not matter if he is from the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), PBB, Progressive Democratic Party or Parti Rakyat Sarawak as long as he can recapture the seat,” he told a press conference after chairing the PBB Nangka branch meeting at MUC hall in Kampung Bandung here last night.
He acknowledged that the state ruling coalition, then under Barisan Nasional, had lost the Sibu seat three consecutive times to the opposition in the 2010-by election as well as 13th and in 14th general elections.
“That is why I said Sibu cannot be a traditionally lost seat. Enough is enough. We have a good chance to win this time. Do not let this opportunity slip,” he added.
Dr Annuar, who is also the state deputy minister for education, innovation and talent development I, said PBB Nangka branch will go all out to help GPS win the Sibu seat, adding that they will work together with other component parties to ensure GPS could repeat the victory in the Nangka seat during the last state election in the coming general election.
“We will go all out to ensure we deliver the votes to GPS. I can tell the votes from Nangka will be very important to win Sibu because in the 12th state election, we obtained a 10,804-vote majority.
“If we tally all the vote majority (from the Nangka, Bawang Assan and Pelawan seats in the state election) hopefully we can win Sibu this time,” he said.
Dr Annuar appealed to the local voters to choose a candidate who can deliver for Sibu in terms of development and put focus on local issues such as flood and road congestion.
“Do not just choose a candidate who can ‘bark’. It is important for the elected representative to know how to ‘bark’ but more importantly, he can deliver and not necessarily win on the opposition or government ticket as long as both can deliver their promises to the people.
“For example, to solve the flood problem and road congestion, we want a candidate who could do the work instead of just talking,” he added.
Dr Annuar also urged the opposition not to use emotional appeals to gain votes in the coming general election.
When asked if he is picked by GPS to contest for the seat, Dr Annuar said he is a loyal PBB member and would accept whatever position given to him.
“I will go for it to make sure GPS wins in Sibu. It does not matter if I am the candidate or otherwise. I will follow the order from the party.”
He said the choice of candidate for Sibu is crucial and believed that the people want to know who is the candidate for the seat.
“Do not talk about this seat being a traditional or non-traditional seat. The candidate chosen is crucial and, more importantly, he must be known soon.
“So we hope to know the candidate early so that we can work to promote him or her to the people. SUPP has named three potential candidates for Sibu. That one we leave it to SUPP but the final say is still our GPS chairman Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg,” he said. – Borneo Post Online, October 18, 2022
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