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Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
KUCHING (9 September): Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah believes that the general elections should be held simultaneously with the Sarawak elections, adding that the state elections are likely to be held later this year.
Vice President of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu said that if Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin decides to call an early election first, Sarawak should also dissolve the State Assembly so that state elections can be held at the same time.
“Both state and general elections should be held simultaneously due to the current political situation in the country, with the (federal) government holding a small majority (in Parliament),” he told reporters here.
He was asked to comment on Muhyiddin’s call on the Perikatan Nasional (PN) parties yesterday to “work extremely hard as if the elections were to be held tomorrow.”
Abdul Karim pointed out that the difference in seats in the Dewan Rakyat between the government and the opposition was so small that if a parliamentarian died or failed, a parliament could hang.
He said Sarawak was likely to hold its elections later this year due to “a lot of events happening in the state” next year, though he did not specify what the events were.
PN has 113 seats in the 222-seat parliament after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February this year.
Pakatan Harapan came to power in the 14th general election (GE14) of 2018.
On the Sarawak elections in the middle of next year, Abdul Karim said that there was a lot of expectation that the elections would take place soon.
“It is an open secret that (the elections) will take place soon and, as I see it now, maybe before the end of the year. We are prepared for it and so is the opposition, ”he said.
Abdul Karim believed that GPS would work better than in previous state elections.
He also felt that all parties based on the Malaysian peninsula could be eliminated during the elections due to the mediocre performance of Pakatan Harapan when he was in power, adding that Sarawakians would now want to vote for local parties.
“We (GPS) have been doing our job well in caring for the state and the people of Sarawak know it. The people of Sarawak have also now realized that the parties based on the Malaysian peninsula do not understand the needs of Sarawak and its people, ”he said.
Other than that, he also believed that GPS would have no problem meeting the challenges posed by other political parties.
GPS currently represents 68 of the 82 state seats.
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