Pakatan Harapan, which is a three-party coalition in Sarawak, has decided on its seats allocation for the next general election.

Sarawak PH chairman Chong Chieng Jen said DAP, PKR and Amanah had opted to preserve the status quo agreed upon in the previous Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

This means DAP will contest 11 seats and PKR 17 seats, with Amanah taking the three seats that were formerly allocated to PAS.

Chong said the arrangement would ensure there was no argument over overlapping claims.

Only 31 parliamentary seats will be contested in the general election in Sarawak.

In the last polls, DAP won Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sarikei, Lanang and Sibu, all five of which are urban Chinese-majority seats, and  PKR won one – Miri.

PAS lost all three it contested.

Barisan Nasional had kept a tight grip on all the Malay and Dayak-majority seats in its rural strongholds.

Chong, however, is optimistic PH could break the BN grip on rural voters due to events in the peninsula.

“What happened in the peninsula will act as a stimulus to change. The Malay grounds in the peninsula, particularly in Umno areas, have shaken,” Chong, who is Bandar Kuching MP, said.

He said there were four reasons for the shake-up.

The first was the people’s reaction to the rising cost of living.

“The impact of goods and services tax (GST) after three years of implementation, coupled with the devaluation of the ringgit, has resulted in the rise,” he said.

The second, he said was that the 1Malaysia Development Bhd financial scandal “had shaken the confidence of civil servants in the law enforcement institutions” such as the police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Attorney-General Chambers.

“All these regulatory bodies seems to have been thrown out of the window. A lot of civil servants are very aware of the regulations and why they have to be complied with”

Chong said the graft and financial scandals in Felda and the presence of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad have added to the ground swell against Umno.

“So what happened in the peninsular will give more confidence to Sarawakians on the possibility of a change in government.”

Chong said the election scenario in Sarawak will largely be a fight between PH and BN.

He dismissed smaller non-aligned Sarawak parties and independents as having no impact on the polls. – September 13, 2017.