DAP’s political avalanche dream could be its nightmare

By admin-s Last updated Nov 6, 2014

Adenan will not pick lesser candidates; he will pick the best for BN even if the best may not be the choice of the urban voters.

Jimmy Adit, The Ant Daily

I draw two conclusions from Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s statement that rural areas were where the faith and support for the government lay, not in the urban areas.

One, the state Barisan Nasional must win where they are supposed to win; and two, the DAP can say what it wants but the “political avalanche” will not happen.

“When the numbers are counted, the bias will be on the rural areas,” Adenan was quoted as saying last month, meaning the state BN will go all out to win the rural seats. It also means Adenan will decide in favour of the most winnable candidates.

Going by past practices, the winnable candidates can come from the administration as in the case of former Dalat district officer Yussibnosh Balo who retained the Balingian seat for BN last March; from NGOs (Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri was drawn from the Federation of Sarawak Women Associations); and of course from political parties, which I believe will include BN-friendly United People’s Party (UPP) and Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras).

Adenan will not be rushing it, and that’s for sure. Time is not a problem not only because he has right up to mid-2016 to dissolve his cabinet but more because the parties, especially those that have become mosquitos, will be going all out to prove they are the more winnable ones.

Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) have both declared all seats traditionally allocated to them belong to them, therefore, the right to contest these seats is theirs. However, claims and declarations are one thing; having the winnable candidates is another.

In the case of SPDP, it will have to prove that in Pakan for example, it has a better candidate than the incumbent, Tan Sri William Mawan, who now heads rival Teras.

Likewise, SUPP must prove that in Bawang Assan it has a better candidate than the incumbent, Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, who is chairman of rival UPP.

The way I see it, as of now, in both Pakan and Bawang Assan, the traditional claimants will have a hard time disproving the “winnability” of the incumbents. If this is the scenario presented before Adenan come state election, naming his winnable candidates is light job.

And these are just two seats; there are several others that need proving and disproving. The mosquito parties will just have to brace for disappointments because whatever Adenan’s decision will be, it is to ensure a win for BN.