TWO Sarawak opposition leaders have dismissed the reconciliation between the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and the United People’s Party (UPP) as a pre-election stunt.

“It’s a desperate move by Umno to ensure that Sarawak delivers (the seats) for them,” PKR state deputy election director Baharuddin Mokshen said of a memorandum between Barisan Nasional (BN) component party SUPP and its splinter UPP signed a week ago.

Baharuddin said the ruling BN is in dire straits in the peninsula and is banking on its fixed deposit state, Sarawak, to shore it up in the 14th general election.

“(Prime Minister) Najib (Razak) is very desperate now. The outlook now is that we (Pakatan Harapan) have the edge over BN, so he needs to stop the squabble among the Chinese parties and present a united front.

“The objective of the two agreements is the same – deny DAP any more seats,” Baharuddin, who is also PKR Petra Jaya division chief said.

“One thing is for sure. It will not bring Chinese votes to Barisan Nasional,” he added.

SUPP and UPP are both Chinese-based parties. UPP was formed by former SUPP members after contentious party elections in 2011.

BN in the 2016 state elections nonetheless found a way round the tussle for seats between the two parties by fielding what they called “direct BN candidates” – candidates directly picked by the BN supreme council.

That solution came to an end on March 17 when Chief Minister and state BN chairman Abang Johari Openg said the coalition will no longer employ the policy of fielding direct candidates to contest GE14.

This led to more squabbles between the two parties, as UPP had laid early claims to several seats in and around its stronghold of Sibu.

The seats are Bandar Sibu, Lanang and Sarikei, which amounted to half of the seven seats traditionally allocated to SUPP.

Baharuddin also said he does not believe the BN could pull off another performance like it did in the 2016 state elections where the coalition clawed back five seats from DAP.

Chinese support for BN in the 2016 state election has been attributed to the enormously popular former chief minister Adenan Satem.

“There will be no such tsunami. People might not like PKR or Pakatan but they certainly are fed up with BN.

“And there is no Adenan now. Abang Jo is no Adenan.”

Baharuddin said in such a scenario, DAP can retain all its five federal seats plus it could “even pick up one or two seats”.

“PKR, on the other hand, will retain its one seat and we are quite confident of picking two.”

The five seats SUPP, Sarawak’s oldest political party, lost in the 2013 general election are Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sibu, Lanang, Sarikei to DAP and Bandar Miri to PKR.

All are Chinese-majority urban seats.

DAP’s pick for the Stampin federal seat, Kelvin Yii, also does not believe the agreement the two parties signed will guarantee cooperation at the polls.

“Nothing has really been decided by both parties (despite the memorandum),” Yii said, noting that the agreement was on “taking steps toward suniting the two parties”.

Abang Johari last Saturday said the state BN is confident of winning 28 of the 31 parliamentary seats in the state. – March 29, 2018.