AMANAH was only allocated nine seats to contest in at the next Sarawak polls due to the severe mauling it received in the 2016 state elections, in which the party contested in 13 seats.

The party has conceded the Malay-majority coastal seats of Sadong Jaya, Beting Maro and the Melanau-majority seats of Balingian and Daro to PKR.

Amanah Sarawak chairman Abang Abdul Halil Abang Naili said the concession was to give way to “our partner party who has a better chance of winning”.

“It’s preferably that they contest (the seat),” he said today.

PKR takes the lion share of the seats – 47 – followed by DAP (26) in the 82-seat state legislative assembly.

PKR and DAP, which fielded candidates in six seats in the 2016 polls – the Chinese-majority seat of Batu Kitang, the Bidayuh-majority seat of Mambong, the mixed-seat of Simanggang and the rural seats of Mulu, Murum and Ngemah – have resolved to share the disputed seats equally between them, with PKR allocated all the logistics challenging rural ones.

In a simple ceremony to seal their agreement on the allocation at DAP headquarters in Kuching today, DAP have also traded two Dayak-majority seats – Pakan and Katibas – where they fared poorly in the last election, to PKR.

DAP, which fielded a woman candidate in Pakan, Rinda Juliza Alexander, managed a mere 285 votes in the three-way fight won by the then BN-direct candidate and former Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president William Mawan.

Mawan polled 3,999 votes while his nearest challenger, an independent, polled 3,573 to win by 426 votes.

In Katibas, DAP fielded Dayak candidate Frankie Bendindang Manajh and still got mauled by Parti Rakyat Sarawak’s (PRS) Wilson Nyabong Ijang. Manajh picked up only 494 votes to Nyabong’s 3,778.

Of the 31 seats, including in the six disputed seats, DAP contested in the 2016 elections, they won only seven seats.

They also failed to retain five seats they won in the 2011 elections.

PKR retained all the three seats in the last polls – Batu Lintang, Krian and Ba’ Kelalan.

However, all three assemblymen, Baru Bian (Ba’ Kelalan), See Chee How (Batu Lintang) and Ali Biju (Krian), have left the party following the political upheaval in February last year.

The mammoth task to claw back those seats now falls on the shoulder of its new state chairman Larry Sng. – January 2, 2021.