POLITICAL observers expect Sarawak elections to be held this year come Covid-19 or the monsoon.

Some believe they will be called immediately after the state budget is tabled while others think the disarray in the opposition ranks is a catalyst for early polls.

The elections are due by June next year.

Kuching-born Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya said word was Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg will call for the dissolution of the state assembly after tabling the state’s 2021 budget.

“Right after the state budget,” he told the Malaysian Insight

The 82-seat legislative assembly will convene next month for a budget sitting. A date is yet to be fixed.

Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Jayum Jawan also said elections would be held  before the year is out, but for a different reason.

Jayum said it would be to Abang Johari and the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) advantage to have the state elections “as soon as possible before the opposition could recover from the disarray they are in”.

He was alluding to PKR’s break-up and the weakening of Amanah due to infighting that had in turn triggered the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February.

Abang Johari told delegates at the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) convention in Sibu last Saturday polls could be held “any time now”.

“The drums will be sounded,” he told them, and added the wood to beat the drum is already “on standby”.

A series of four meetings are scheduled to prepare party members for the elections, with the first held last month in Miri and the last on October 26 in Kuching.

PBB vice-president Michael Manyin fuelled more speculation when he told his constituents in Tebedu last week elections would likely be between November and March.

“It’s just around the corner,” the Sarawak education, science and technological research minister said at a sports carnival.

An aide to a senior state minister told The Malaysian Insight the plan had been to hold elections in September.

The spike in Covid-19 cases in the state derailed the plan.

“Now I’ve not heard of any new dates yet. So it could still be next month (December),” the aide, who requested anonymity, said.

The flurry of events held by politicians on both sides of the political divide has not gone unnoticed.

“All the assemblyman are seen to be suddenly active in their respective constituencies. Events to engage the electorate have suddenly spiked,” Awang Azman said.

Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, for example, had drawn up a punishing schedule.

He reportedly has lined up 22 community engagement events in his constituency of Bukit Saban in Betong.

Awang Azman said one just needs to listen to the politicians’ speeches to know they are prepping for the election.

“The speeches of the ministers and politicians which are often littered with their or their party’s achievements, and the announcements of all kinds of projects, big and small, are all classic signs that the elections are near.”

He said ministers’ visits to small, rural and remote places – places which are usually avoided due to the logistical difficulties of getting there – are another sign of impending elections.

Awang Azman believed the elections would be held before the end of the year because he does not subscribe to the popular notion that state elections should not be held during the year end monsoon season as bad weather could ground helicopters used by the government to campaign in this vast state as rains turn roada into a quagmire and rivers become too fast and dangerous to use.

The opposition and some groups however, have appealed to Abang Johari not to call for early elections.

Thet fear elections could accelerate the spread of Covid-19 virus just like they did in Sabah.

Sarawak-based group Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE) stated with the spike in the number of positive Covid 19 cases nationwide, it would be highly irresponsible to call for elections now or before the year end.

Sarawak PKR youth chief Saifunnizam Sam said there is no need to rush to hold elections.

“If the situation persists until automatic dissolution in June, then we have no choice but to hold elections. But until that time, they can wait.

“In that time, measures must be taken to prepare for elections in June because that is unavoidable.

University lecturer Joseph Ramanair said the opposition hopes to delay polls because the timing is not right for them.

“The opposition, particularly peninsula-based parties like PKR, DAP, PAS, need all the help they can from party colleagues on the peninsula to help them in their campaign.

“They are also aware that the state’s entry requirements that are in place to curb the import of Covid-19 make it difficult for them to get their party colleagues over.”

Ramanair is referring to the mandatory 14-day quarantine Malaysians from the peninsula, Sabah and Labuan have to undergo when entering the state.

“By the time they are released from quarantine, the campaign could be over or people could be already heading for the polling booths.

“They are asking for the delay in the hope that the situation could be better in the next six months and the entry requirements lifted.

Ramanair said the opposition has every reason to be fearful.

“Covid or no Covid, GPS will win this election hands down.”

Ramanair said this is because the opposition is bereft of any issues against the current government.

“The short time they were in power showed they were incapable of administering.” – October 11, 2020.