SIBU, Nov 12 — Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Sibu incumbent Oscar Ling alleged last night that vote-buying was already happening here as the 15th general election (GE15) campaign kick-started last weekend.

"There have been talks that up to RM500 is offered per vote, or RM300 per vote. If you’re a postal voter, you can now claim money from certain party. Is this clean and fair election?” he said during the DAP ceramah here.

Ling is taking on Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) candidate Clarence Ting and Parti Sarawak Bersatu’s (PSB) Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh in a three-way fight in Sibu on November 19.

According to Ling, Sibu has over 100,000 voters and is the fifth ‘largest’ parliamentary constituency in Sarawak.

He noted that Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg had talked about having 35 per cent of parliamentary seats for Sarawak.

"This is also a point included in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto. We also want to see Sarawak have 35 per cent of representation in Parliament in order to have a say when it comes to voting.

"But the thing is Abang Johari talked about delineating seats based on land area and not population. For instance, Pelawan is a small area but with over 50,000 voters.

"If they don’t delineate based on population, it serves to strengthen their own stronghold which is rural area,” he charged.

Ling observed that some people were still confused whether this election was state or parliamentary one.

He informed: "The election that we had end of last year was a state election. This is a parliamentary election which we are going to elect our federal government.”

He appealed to all to give their votes to PH and DAP so that the coalition can deliver 112 out of the 222 parliamentary seats, a simple majority to form the next federal government.

"Every DAP seat is important. In Sarawak, DAP is contesting in only eight parliamentary seats this time. We must make sure that we can win all and march into Putrajaya,” he said.

He added the eight seats are Mas Gading, Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Serian, Sarikei, Lanang, Sibu and Bintulu.

Ling claimed: "If GPS is the kingmaker after the election, Zahid will be the next prime minister. If the Umno is in the government again, we won’t be able to get our rights back.”

Meanwhile, the DAP leader called upon young voters to exercise their democratic rights this polls.

"Young voters, 600,000 of them nationwide, are a force to be reckoned with. You can play a role to bring about change to Malaysia,” he said.

On the recognition of Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), Ling said PH will look into the technical part to make sure that UEC holders can enrol for local public universities, if PH emerges the next federal government.

"Chinese independent schools are managed by Dong Zong, which does not want the government to interfere in their curriculum. We respect that.

"In our manifesto this time, we focus on how to get UEC holders enrol for local public universities. One key thing is UEC holders must have an SPM BM Credit, but we still need to discuss with Dong Zong. We will pursue this matter,” he added. — Borneo Post Online