PKR Sarawak digesa beri laluan kepada DAP di Batu Lintang

Analysts believe the People's Alliance for Change (PKR) should consider giving DAP the opportunity to contest the Batu Lintang seat in the upcoming Sarawak PRN election. Chong Chieng Jen, DAP Sarawak's deputy chairman, stated that PKR does not have much influence at the state level, while DAP remains a strong voice in the political landscape of Sarawak.

According to James Chin from the University of Tasmania, DAP has a greater influence among Chinese voters, who form the majority of the electorate in Batu Lintang. "Historically, DAP has succeeded in Batu Lintang, and the Chinese voters, comprising over 80% of the total voters there, show a higher inclination to vote for DAP instead of PKR," he said.

Batu Lintang, created in 1991, was previously a stronghold of the People's Union for Sarawak (SUPP). DAP won the seat in 2006, marking their first victory for a challenger in the region, and then passed it on to See Chee How from PKR, who defended the seat in 2011. See regained the seat for PKR in 2016 but was expelled from the party in 2020 due to his opposition to the leadership.

In 2021, he managed to retain the seat on the Sarawak United People's Party (PSB) ticket, with a narrow margin of only 93 votes. See received 4,420 votes, followed by SUPP's Sih Hua Tong with 4,327 votes and PKR's Cherishe Ng with 1,823 votes. Despite speculations that See might be expelled by SUPP in the upcoming election, Chin and Dugun believe his chances of winning might be slimmer if he contests as a GPS candidate.

Chin argued that the voters in Batu Lintang have been consistently supporting dissidents, as evidenced by previous PRN results, including the 2021 election where the PSB, a dissident party, emerged as the victor despite the presence of dissident candidates. In 2021, dissident votes were predominantly split among the PSB, PKR, and the Bumi Kenyalang Party, which managed to secure 1,570 votes, just a few hundred votes less than PKR.

This indicates that the voters in the seat tend to support dissidents, so by joining the state government through SUPP, See has actually weakened his chances of winning. Dugun added that disgruntled dissident supporters might harbor resentment towards See's decision to join SUPP and contest as a GPS candidate. He stated that DAP needs to frame the right narrative throughout the campaign to garner the support of the Chinese voters while acknowledging that they are indeed capable of handling the issues at hand.

"The Chinese voters tend to believe that a strong dissident figure is needed in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) to act as a check and balance. They know that a dominance of a single party or bloc in the government is not healthy," he said.