Sarawak BN to name candidates next month, says Adenan

Barisan Nasional will announce its candidates for the Sarawak elections "some time" next month, state chief Tan Sri Adenan Satem says today. He said all four component parties in the state BN – his Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) as well as the two pro-BN parties United People's Party (UPP) and Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) – have submitted their candidates' list to him for consideration. UPP and Teras are splinter parties of SUPP and SPDP respectively. Apart from PRS's line-up which he endorsed last month and most of PBB's incumbents, Adenan has yet to endorse SUPP and SPDP's proposal nor has he disclosed how he planned to deal with seats tussle among the two BN and the two pro-BN parties. When asked about it at his press conference after closing the National Education Convention for Sarawak at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) this afternoon, Adenan only said he has "sorted out most of the problems" but there were "a few remaining". Adenan, tight-lipped as ever, would not disclosed when he would advise the governor to dissolve the assembly. Asked on state BN secretary-general Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi's claim that BN was confident of recapturing up to four seats from DAP, Adenan said he agreed. "We are optimistic. We have done our calculation and we are quite optimistic." Rundi, speaking in Sibu yesterday, attributed the optimism from the "people-centric approaches and initiatives" of Adenan. The 12 seats DAP won are mostly Chinese-majority urban seats – Kota Sentosa, Dudong, Batu Kawah, Piasau, Meradong, Pujut, Pelawan, Pending, Kidurong, Padungan, Bukit Assek and Repok. Even Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his recent visit to Sibu reportedly said BN could reduce seats held by the opposition from 13 to 10. DAP, riding on the unpopularity of Adenan's predecessor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, has been chipping away SUPP's hold on Chinese support in the last two elections. It thrashed SUPP in the 2011 elections, winning in 13 of the 15 seats they contested head-to-head. – February 21, 2016.]]>