No such thing as ‘traditional seat’, says ex-Jasa man on PDP staking claim on Pakan

Sylvester Embuas

PAKAN (Dec 3): A former Special Affairs Department (Jasa) officer has questioned the use of the term ‘traditional seat’ by political parties in staking their claim on a particular constituency.

Citing Pakan seat which is being claimed by Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), Sylvester Embuas said the seat has been represented by different political parties since the first state election in 1969 up till the last one in 2016.

“Ultimately, no political party can claim a seat to be their traditional seat or stronghold, as the seat is ‘returned’ to the people upon the dissolution of the DUN (State Legislative Assembly),” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He was asked to comment on PDP Pakan members insisting that the party’s candidate be selected to represent Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the seat this coming polls, on account it ‘belongs’ to PDP.

The incumbent for Pakan is Tan Sri William Mawan, who first won in 1991 on a Sarawak National Party (SNAP) ticket and represented the party in the 1996 and 2001 elections.

In the 2006 polls, he won the seat on a Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP – later PDP) ticket and again in 2011, before contesting as a Barisan Nasional (BN)-direct candidate in 2016.

Mawan is now with GPS backbone Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).
PDP has been pushing hard for Edwin Bandang to be the GPS candidate, with its Pakan branch chairman Ting Kew Ming on Wednesday demanding the seat be ‘returned’ to the party.

“In the (2016) election, he (Mawan) abandoned us and got himself fielded as a BN-direct candidate instead of leaving the seat to the good care of us.

“Now, we demand our right over the seat based on allocation of seats among GPS component parties,” Ting said.

Sylvester, meanwhile, believes Mawan could once again be nominated to contest the Pakan seat, but said regardless of who gets the nod to represent GPS, the candidate must thank Pakan folk for rendering their support.

GPS is set to announce all 82 of its candidates for the coming polls today.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3xNDcsM
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