DAP picks Baru Bian for CM if Sarawak captured
(The Malaysian Insider) – Sarawak DAP announced today that it will endorse state PKR chief Baru Bian for the post of chief minister should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) win the April 16 state election — even if the pact’s lynchpin fails to get the lion’s share of seats.
“We in the DAP have already stated our stand clear a while back, when the Sarawak PR council was first established, that Baru will be our next CM,” state DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen said firmly during a press conference after PR launched its manifesto for Sarawak this afternoon.
When met later, Chong told The Malaysian Insider that this was because DAP leaders held Baru, a well-known church elder here, in high respect. Baru, who is a lawyer, is contesting the Ba’Kelalan state constituency.
“We have confidence in his leadership.
“It does not necessarily mean that PKR must win the majority number of seats for us to endorse a PKR representative for the post. Even if DAP secures the top number of seats, we will choose him,” he said.
When asked if the PKR central leadership was aware that Baru had already been selected to lead the state, party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said that it was by convention that the party with the most number of seats would appoint a chief minister from among its representatives.
“In any state, the party with the most number of seats will lead the state government.
“Baru was chosen because he is the state PKR leader.
“But, we will still need to sit down and discuss.
“But for now, of course since Baru is the state leader, DAP has selected his name,” he said.
PKR is contesting a total of 49 seats in the current state polls. The DAP is contesting in 15 and PAS in five.
PKR will clash head-on with SNAP in 26 seats.
Chong said that only if Baru failed to wrest the Ba’Kelalan seat from Barisan Nasional would the DAP consider an alternative candidate for the highly-coveted post.
“We are not short of candidates,” he pointed out.
When met at the PKR city headquarters here, PAS central working committee member Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin claimed that the Islamist party was aware that Baru had already been selected as PR’s choice for the next Sarawak chief minister.
“In any case, it will not be a problem for us. This is not the main question that we are concerned about at the moment.
“We have with us three years of experience in our rule in Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan.
“And look at what happened in Perak when we won in Election 2008, someone had to rise from among us to be appointed the mentri besar,” he said.
Nizar was PR’s former Perak mentri besar until the state fell back to Barisan Nasional during the infamous 2009 power grab.
Just yesterday, PR leaders had admitted that the pact was yet to formulate a succession plan for Sarawak, should it come into power this April 16.
Its top leaders had said that they were yet to determine who among its leaders should sit in the state Cabinet and, most significantly, who would replace Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud as the Sarawak chief minister.
Taib, the country’s longest serving chief minister, has administered resource-rich Sarawak for a record 30 years and has been described as Malaysia’s most powerful state leader with a business empire that spans across at least eight nations.
