BINTULU, Nov 6 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) Sarawak chairman Senator Jaziri Alkaf Abdillah Suffian said he is optimistic about PN’s winning chance in the Bintulu parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15).

"It’s bright, I’m sure Bintulu parliamentary seat belongs to PN Sarawak on factors that want positive and progressive change.

"Our candidate here has been moving around for at least three years, many initiatives have been brought, and last week, an investment initiative that will offer 500 employment opportunities in Bintulu, RM25 million in investment,” he said.

Jaziri, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman, said this when asked about PN’s candidate Duke Janteng winning chances against the Bintulu incumbent Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

He said there were other initiatives that have been implemented by PN in Bintulu for example the distribution of 68,000 food baskets and agriculture hub cooperative that generates a household income of not less than RM1,500 per person.

"The socio economy initiative is already running, for scale up, we want him to be nominated and win so that the initiative can be felt by more people, especially in Bintulu,” said Jaziri who gathered along with 1,000 PN supporters at the compound of nomination centre at Bintulu Civic Centre on Saturday.

When asked if a PN candidate was given the mandate to represent Bintulu, Jaziri said their ultimate plan is to increase the socio-economy of the local communities and secondly improve the education quality especially in rural areas with PN manifesto ‘Rakyat first, Sarawak first’.

However, if PN lost, he assured that it would not be the end for PN in Sarawak because they will continue to serve the grassroots.

"We are not just sending empty candidates, we are already working and benefiting many people.

"We will continue, winning or losing is a tradition, we provide the best service, we have been doing that and will continue to do that as long as we are here,” he said.

There are four candidates from PN contesting in Sarawak in GE15 namely Datuk Ali Biju and Jugah Muyang who will defend Saratok and Lubok Antu as Bersatu members respectively, with Duke fielded as PN’s new candidate for Bintulu with PAS’ Hamdan Sani contesting in Batang Lupar under the PN symbol.

Asked what will happen to the relationship between PN and GPS after GE15, Jaziri said PN is a friend to GPS and in a democratic country everyone has the right to contest.

"We on the side of Perikatan Nasional, based on the previous agreement, PRN time, seat negotiation at that time, on our side, PN side, I on behalf of Tan Sri president, we have upheld our words.

"That means we don’t want to compete for all the seats, we want to bring candidates who can give more benefits, we don’t have many candidates, only three people,” he said.

Jaziri said PN is not fielding many candidates in Sarawak, but its presence in the state was to create a stable and good governance.

He said a victory of the PN in Bintulu will be a victory for Sarawak, a victory for Malaysia and the state government.

He added that the Bintulu parliamentary seat was chosen because he claimed that 42,000 Bersatu members in Bintulu want a representative from the party to lead them and bring more development initiatives to the Bintulu people. — Borneo Post