LAWAS (Sarawak): Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said he will not be underestimating his opponents when defending the Bukit Sari seat in the 12th Sarawak state election.

He said although Bukit Sari is a GPS stronghold, the other candidates were formidable opponents and possessed their own strengths.

In this regard, the Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister hoped the 12-day campaign until Dec 17 will be a clean affair without any provocation from all those contesting.

"The state election is a democratic process and we cannot be underestimating the other candidates contesting here (Bukit Sari).

"They have their strengths respectively... and that is why they are contesting. We must work hard throughout the election campaign to ensure a GPS victory," he told a media conference at the Bukit Sari Community Hall here today.

Awang Tengah will be in a three-cornered fight against Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) candidate Riyah Basrah and Alias Mail of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).

In the 2016 state election, Awang Tengah won the seat unopposed, while in 2011, the PBB deputy president defeated PKR's Japar Suyut with a 5,063-vote majority.

Polling has been set for Dec 18 while early voting takes place four days earlier.

On standard operating procedures (SOP) for the state election that, among others, allow physical ceramahs (political talk) in 64 state constituencies with poor internet coverage, including Bukit Sari, Awang Tengah said the GPS election machinery will use that advantage as best as possible.

"We will ensure all activities and ceramahs carried out comply with the set regulations and SOP... we must prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the campaign," he said.

Meanwhile, Awang Tengah has not ruled the possibility that the Opposition will once again raise the issue of native customary rights (NCR) during campaigning.

He advised voters not to be swayed by the opposition's propaganda, saying the GPS-led state government had been consistent over NCR land ownership, especially when claims are done according to the law.

-- BERNAMA