BERSATU’S entry into Sarawak has put PKR in a quandary as it may be forced to give up some seats for the next state polls.

PKR, which contested 40 seats in the 2016 Sarawak elections, could find itself having to hand over seats to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s party, which entered the state at the end of last year.

“Other coalition partners are looking at us to give up some of our seats to them (Bersatu),” a PKR official told The Malaysian Insight after Pakatan Harapan’s first round of meetings on seat allocations for the state elections, due in two years, yesterday.

PKR, which contested nearly half of the 82 seats up for grabs in 2016, won just three – Ba’kelalan (Baru Bian), Batu Lintang (See Chee How) and Krian (Ali Biju). All are non-Malay seats.

“Right now, I can tell you that PKR will not give up any seats,” said the PKR official, who attended the meeting.

“But realistically, we could give (Bersatu) some token seats.”

On what he meant by “token seats”, the party official said, “Seats we know we can’t win”.

“We are definitely not giving up seats we worked hard for and those we think we have a chance of winning.

“They are turning to us because we were allocated the largest chunk of the seats. They are not turning to DAP because most of DAP’s seats are in Chinese-majority areas.

“Amanah has only 13 seats, and is unlikely to give up any.”

The PKR official said his party will study the matter further.

“The truth is, Bersatu is not ready to face the state elections, even though they are two years away.

“Would it make sense to give it seats, knowing it has no chance of winning them?”

Earlier yesterday, Sarawak PH chairman Chong Chieng Jen told a post-meeting press conference that seat allocations “will not be easy”.

“Definitely, yes (it will be difficult),” Chong, who is also Stampin MP and deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, said at the DAP headquarters in Kuching, without elaborating.

“There will be further meetings to decide on seats.”

In the 2016 state elections, Sarawak PH, then a three-party coalition of PKR, DAP and Amanah, failed to agree on seat allocations, resulting in the two largest parties – PKR and DAP – going head-to-head in six seats.

Apart from PKR contesting 40 seats, DAP contested 31 seats and Amanah (13).

The six disputed seats were the new ones of Batu Kitang, Murum, Mulu, Mambong, Simanggang and Ngemah.

Mambong, in 2011, was known as Bengoh, and was allocated to PH’s defunct partner Sarawak National Party, while Simanggang was allocated to DAP in the 2011 state elections. The Dayak-majority seat of Ngemah was allocated to PKR in 2011.

PH failed to win any of the disputed seats.

Chong assured that the debacle of 2016 will not be repeated in the next state polls.

“We will contest as a PH coalition.” – February 24, 2019.