THE delay in appointing a PKR election director in Sarawak is a cause for concern to state party leaders as state elections are expected in the next two years.

Former party vice-president, Nurul Izzah Anwar, was the state’s election director prior to her shock resignation from all party posts last year.

PKR has yet to announce her replacement.

“The (leadership) vacuum is becoming to be a big problem for us,” said one of the party’s state election coordinators, Baharuddin Mokshen.

“We, the people in the state, don’t know what we’re supposed to do or what direction to take,” said Baharuddin.

He currently shares the responsibilities of state election coordinator with Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How.

However, plans for campaigning cannot be finalised without an official director.

“With the election drawing closer, the absence of an election director makes things so difficult to decide as the link to the national leadership is missing,” Baharuddin told The Malaysian Insight.

The next election for Sarawak’s legislature is shaping up to be an interesting one amid the changed political landscape in Malaysia brought about by the ouster of the Barisan Nasional coalition in last year’s May 9 general election.

With Pakatan Harapan in Putrajaya, PKR, a member of the coalition, see the coming polls as their best chance to topple the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the Bornean state.

GPS is made up of four former BN parties – Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) as the linchpin of the coalition, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).

With GPS seen – for the moment – to be in the driving seat and on course to hang on to power, PKR sources said even if they failed to oust GPS, their main objective was still to win “a Malay seat and more Dayak seats”.

“There is a possibility of toppling GPS if we are given the funds we are asking for,” Baharuddin said.

After 20 years in Sarawak, PKR has yet to break into Malay areas.

But the party has a foothold in Dayak and Chinese areas, where in won three seats in the last state election in 2016. – March 28, 2019.