SARAWAK Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Abdul Karim Hamzah is all for the state election to be held despite the raging Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

The Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president told reporters that the people’s rights in choosing who they want as their representatives in the state assembly and who they want to form the government should be given equal priority as to protecting them from the pandemic. 

“The rights of the citizens must be given high priority. (They) should not be ignored. 

“If the pandemic is to continue for another five years, are we going to postpone the election for another five years?” he asked, as there has been a growing call from the opposition for a localised state of emergency to be imposed on Sarawak to defer the election “until it is safe” to hold it.

Today, DAP’s Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii echoed his party chairman’s call yesterday to the federal and state governments to make sure the necessary electoral reforms for a safer election process are implemented first on top of a high 80% vaccination rate in Sarawak before considering calling the election.

Yii said a localised emergency must be declared for the state until all those reforms are being finalised and the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak is better controlled.

“I don’t think I would want to stay on as an elected representative without a mandate from the rakyat (people),” Karim said. 

Referring to the four-party ruling state coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which PBB is part of, he said: “We also do not want to hold on to power on the pretext of the emergency or pandemic.” 

PBB, which has 47 seats in the 82-seat legislature, is the lynchpin of the coalition, which groups Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). 

PRS won 11 seats in the 2016 election; SUPP, seven; and PDP, three. 

“We were given only five years and that five years has already passed,” Karim said.

The Sarawak state assembly was supposed to automatically dissolve on June 6 but the laws of the state of emergency overrode the state constitution and left it in suspension until after the emergency is lifted. 

Karim said although a panel of health experts will advise the Election Commission if it is safe enough to hold the polls, he disagreed with the opposition’s current assessment of the pandemic in the state.

He said the situation is improving and not as serious as what the opposition paints it out to be.

He said although the number of new cases reported daily is still in the hundreds, the people should look at the figures that matter.

He strongly believes the election will be in late September or sometime in October. – July 28, 2021.