DPM confident BN can wrest Pujut state seat

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is confident Barisan Nasional (BN) is able to wrest the Pujut state constituency in Sarawak from the opposition if a by-election is held for the seat.

He said if the BN managed to wrest the seat, it would increase the number of seats held by Sarawak BN to 73 compared to 72 seats won in the last state election.

"God willing, there will be a by-election in Pujut and we (BN) will get 73 out of 83 seats (Sarawak state assembly)," he said when speaking at a meet-the-people session in Dataran Bagandang, near here today,

Also present were Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd, who is also Beaufort Member of Parliament and Beaufort UMNO division chief Datuk Isnin Aliasnih,

On May 12, the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly disqualified Dr Ting Tiong Choon from DAP as the Pujut assemblyman after a motion was made by state International Trade and E-Commerce Minister Datuk Woon Soon Koh, who is also Bawang Assan assemblyman, because Ting has dual citizenship, Malaysian and Australian.

The motion was passed after it was seconded by 70 assemblymen while another 10 objected it.

According to Ahmad Zahid, BN made almost a clean sweep in the last Sarawak state election due to the commitment of the state and national BN, including himself who visited Sarawak once every two weeks to help the people of Sarawak.

Hence the deputy prime minister said, in the coming general election, it was not impossible for Sabah to achieve better results compared to that of the last general election based on the commitment shown by the federal government towards Sabah and the solid support of the people in the state.

"We will ensure that whichever individual or party that tried to buck UMNO and Barisan Nasional, we will defeat them in the general election. Only those (leaders) who have resilience, competitiveness and fighting spirit will succeed," he added.

--BERNAMA