AS expected and in keeping with tradition, there will be no contests for the top posts in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) when its members meet in Kuching for its three-day triennial general assembly from tomorrow.

Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg will still be president when the assembly ends on Sunday.

So will the state’s two deputy premiers Douglas Uggah and Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who will continue in their position as the deputy presidents. 

Works Minister Fadillah Yusof and state Modernisation of Agriculture and Regional Development Stephen Minister Rundi too will not face contest for the two senior vice-president posts they hold.

The same goes for the party’s nine vice-presidents.

Vice-president Abdul Karim Hamzah said the assembly “was not planned that way” even though there have been no contests for the top post from the time Abdul Taib Mahmud helmed the party from 1981.

Karim, who is also the state tourism, creative industry and performing arts minister, said the party had allowed any members who want to contest to file their candidacy in this assembly.

He said somehow no one did for the top posts and the 82 branches also passed a motion during their branch meeting for the incumbents to be returned unopposed.

In the last general assembly in 2017, there was, however, a contest for the vice-president’s position in the Bumiputera wing, with seven candidates vying for the five available positions. 

PBB is divided into two wings – the Bumiputera wing for the Malay and Melanaus and the Pesaka wing for the Dayaks.

Karim was one of the victorious candidates.

He said one reason why the contests at this assembly are only confined to minor positions, like being an ordinary member of the supreme council, is the “very good feeling” members have after the super landslide win at last December’s state elections, where the PBB-led Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) ruling coalition reduced the opposition to minnows by winning 76 of the 82 seats in the state assembly.

He said they were probably thinking: “why rock the boat?”

“Since we have a good team to lead the elections, why must we disturb the team? 

“We have never secured this kind of victory before where we won 76 seats out of 82. In terms of popularity, we won almost 93% of the votes.

“No other polls before this showed this kind of support. So there is a very good feeling among PBB members, ” he said.

Another “tradition” the secretive PBB will continue with at this assembly is to keep non-members, particularly journalists, out when delegates of the various wings make their debate.

Karim said there was a proposal to allow journalists in and listen to the debates but the organising committee was adamant in keeping the lid on.

Abang Johari will deliver the keynote address at the joint opening of the youth and women assemblies tomorrow and the main assembly on Saturday. – June 16, 2022.