GABUNGAN Parti Sarawak chairman Abang Johari Openg has again ruled out sharing seats with any party, even its erstwhile partners in the Perikatan Nasional federal coalition, in the 15th general election.

The election is widely expected after the anti-hopping law is passed in July. 

“I have said it. We will fill all 31 seats,” the Sarawak premier told reporters at his Gedong constituency Raya gathering today. 

The four parties that constitute ruling coalition GPS are Abang Johari’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), which currently holds 13 seats, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), which has one, and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), with two seats each. 

The four parties, which then contested as members of the Barisan Nasional, won 19 of the 31 seats but had the number reduced to 18 in 2019 when PRS’ Sri Aman MP Masir Kujat defected to the opposition Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB). 

PBB was allocated 14 seats to contest, SUPP, seven; PRS, six and PDP, four. 

Abang Johari’s announcement is expected to unsettle Bersatu’s two MPs in Sarawak – Willie Mongin (Puncak Borneo) and Ali Biju (Saratok).

Mongin, the deputy minister of plantation industries and commodities, is aware of the predicament he is in and only last week had said as the incumbent of the Bidayuh-majority seat on the outskirts of Kuching, he should be given the chance to defend the seat he snatched from PBB in the 2018 general election on a PKR ticket. 

Mongin was one of the PKR MPs who did not support his party president Anwar Ibrahim to take over as prime minister from Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the night of the Sheraton Move. 

Faced with a sure sacking, Mongin jumped to join Bersatu. 

“As incumbents, it is normal for us to defend our seats. 

“It is quite incorrect if we as incumbents do not defend our seats,” he told reporters after officiating a Women’s Day programme in a village in his constituency. 

PBB, which had held the seat unbroken since it was created in 1999, surprised many when it lost the seat. 

Other PBB leaders, like deputy president Douglas Uggah, had similarly said the party will field its candidate there in the next general election. 

Uggah insisted Puncak Borneo is a PBB seat, and will field its candidate there. – May 5, 2022.