‘Borneo Front’ will have no impact in GE15, says Abdul Karim

Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah

KUCHING (Jan 31): Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah does not think the proposed ‘Borneo Front’ pact would make any impact in the coming 15th General Election (GE15).

He said the proposed pact, initiated by Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan, will not be able to win any seats and its candidates could even lose election deposits.

“In the last state election we saw almost all of PBK candidates lost their deposits.

“This will likely happen again (in GE15). I am not being arrogant but then I believe the voters are more matured and know who they are,” said Abdul Karim, who is vice president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) which is the biggest component in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

Voon at a press conference on Wednesday said his party would seek to establish a ‘Borneo Front’ by combining forces with local parties in Sabah to face the election, but did not provide further details.

Voon pointed out there are 31 and 25 parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak and Sabah respectively and he hoped to secure the strength in numbers in Parliament to voice out the independence cause for the Borneo states.

According to Abdul Karim, PBK also declared previously that it could win some seats in the 12th State Election on Dec 18 but the otherwise had happened.

“The general election is coming, and PBK has come out again that they will contest going alone or in a pact with parties from Sabah and Sarawak.

“Well, this is democracy. But Sarawakians are already matured politically (to know what to do),” he added.

Describing Voon as his friend, Abdul Karim said it is hard for PBK and Voon to gain support in order to get anywhere.

He nonetheless believes the participation of more parties in GE15 will make it more colourful.

“Well, the more the merrier. For the voters, this presents chance to make some extra income by installing party banners and billboards and flags.

“But come election, they know better whom and which party to vote,” he said.

In the 12th State Election, PBK had the second highest number of candidates by contesting in 73 out of the 82 seats.

Only six of the candidates including Voon managed to secure the threshold percentage of votes to retain their election deposits.

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