SEATS the Sarawak opposition are least likely to squabble over ahead of the 15th general election are the 11 Malay-Melanau constituencies or those with a large number of Muslim Bumiputera voters, University of Tasmania political analyst James Chin said.

“They are too hard to crack,” Chin said of the near stranglehold Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the lead party in the state ruling coalition, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, has on them.

For example, the seat of Santubong, whose MP is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, has been held without a break for 53 years by PBB since the seat was created in 1969.

Wan Junaidi held it for the last four terms since 2004.

The other 10 seats are Petra Jaya (Fadillah Yusof), Kota Samarahan (Rubiah Wang), Batang Sadong (Nancy Shukri), Batang Lupar (Rohani Abdul Karim), Tanjung Manis (Yusuf Abd Wahab), Igan (Ahmad Johnie Zawawi), Mukah (Hanifah Hajar Taib), Sibuti (Lukanisman Awang Sauni), Limbang (Hasbi Habibollah) and Lawas (Henry Sum Agong).

As for the 14 Dayak-majority seats, Chin said there could be some squabble over “one to two” in the Iban ethnic areas and one in the Bidayuh ethnic areas, which could be “winnable seats” for the opposition.

Chin did not name the seats but whispers on the political grapevine have them as Julau and Selangau.

The MP for Julau is the party-hopper Larry Sng, a Chinese, who won it as an independent in the 2018 general election.

After the election, he joined PKR but left the party in February last year to become an independent again.

He also declared support for the ruling Perikatan Nasional.

Sng has since reactivated his dormant Sarawak Workers Party and renamed it Parti Bangsa Malaysia and installed himself as president.

The MP for Selangau is former Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian, who is not even from the area.

Baru is an ethnic Lun Bawang, whose home village is some 500km away in Lawas, at the northern end of the state.

The one Bidayuh-majority seat could be Puncak Borneo, which was won by Willie Mongin on the Pakatan Harapan-PKR ticket in the 2018 election. – May 14, 2022.