State BN election director Abang Johari says the
outcome for both urban Chinese-majority seats had been in doubt until
the last minute.
KUCHING: In the run-up to the recent Sarawak election, the state Barisan Nasional (BN) was not certain it could clinch victory in Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang, two important Chinese-majority seats in Kuching, Abang Johari Abang Openg said.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Dr Sim Kui Hian (Batu Kawah) and Padawan Municipal Council chairman Lo Khere Chiang (Batu Kitang) won the two urban seats.
At an appreciation dinner for Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB)’s campaign workers last night, the deputy chief minister spoke of an overture made by Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem to BN members at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) in early April prior to the election.
“Tok Nan and all the rest of us gathered at BCCK. Tok Nan had said that in Batu Kitang, we have more or less 40 per cent Bumiputera voters.
“In Batu Kawah, we have more or less 39 per cent Bumiputera voters. And the Bumiputera voters will determine the outcome of the election in Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang,” said Abang Johari, who was also the state BN’s election director during the campaign.
“The worst (of the seats contested) was Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang. Up until election day, we were still wondering whether we would win or lose,” he said.
“These
seats are important because contesting in Batu Kawah was the SUPP
president. We in PBB want SUPP president Dr Sim to win, and we achieved
our target. And we also wanted to secure the victory for our comrade
Lo,” he added.Batu Kawah was one of seven seats that SUPP won in the May 7 state election.
Prior to the election, SUPP had control over only two seats. A defeat at Batu Kawah could have ended Sim’s political career.
Meanwhile, of the 11 new seats created in a redelineation exercise by the Election Commission last year, Batu Kitang was the only urban-based seat, carved out of DAP-controlled Batu Kawah and Kota Sentosa.
SUPP wrested control of both state seats from DAP in the election.
“As the election director, I thought we might deliver between 68 to 70 seats. But we won Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang, which increased our tally to 72 seats. PBB itself saw a clean sweep victory, winning all 40 seats,” Abang Johari said to applause.
“This
is the victory that we enjoy when we work hard. The rakyat supports Tok
Nan’s people-centric policies, So much so that even the Chinese
community shifted their allegiance to BN.“At the very least, we have reduced the majority in the seats lost to DAP. Ultimately, Tok Nan received a mandate in this election,” he said.
Abang Johari also spoke of being shaken by news of the helicopter crash on May 5, which took the life of deputy plantation industries and commodities minister Noriah Kasnon and five others.
Having taken a similar flight path of the ill-fated helicopter on the same day, Abang Johari said he had not experienced any weather difficulties.
“It was a thirty-five minute difference. We never know when life will end. Maybe, it could have been my helicopter,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lo, who was present at the dinner, told the audience that Sarawak BN must begin working towards victory for the coming general election.
He said SUPP needed support to achieve victory in Stampin, a parliamentary constituency that covers the state constituencies of Kota Sentosa, Batu Kitang and Batu Kawah.
The Kota Sentosa assemblyman is state DAP leader Chong Chieng Jen.
“I know the election is just over. I know it is not fair to ask for your support again during this thank you dinner, but I’m pleading with all of you, let’s make this possible,” the new Batu Kitang assemblyman said.
“For the sake of Sarawak, we must win Stampin. For the future of Sarawak, for the wealth of Sarawak. Only when we are strong as a state, will the West Malaysians not step on us. If we are weak, they find us contemptible and push us around. We must unite,” he added.
The next general election must be called by June 24, 2018.
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