Tuesday March 5, 2013

Rundi: State Barisan to work harder to ensure a stronger coalition

By SHARON LING
sharonling@thestar.com.my

KUCHING: The last few months has seen quite a positive swing in favour of the state ruling coalition, according to state Barisan secretary-general Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi.

He said although there were still seats that Barisan needed to focus on, the situation was looking up compared to several months ago.

“I can tell you that from the last few months it has improved. The situation is slightly different and the swing is quite positive now. So we will work on it and put in more effort to ensure that Barisan becomes stronger,” he told The Star after a briefing by various agencies at PBB headquarters here yesterday.

However, he declined to say which seats had been categorised as white or black.

Barisan currently holds 29 of the state’s 31 parliamentary seats. The remaining two — Bandar Kuching and Sibu — are held by DAP.

Although the state is considered a “fixed deposit” for the ruling coalition, the coming polls are expected to see tough fights for urban seats.

On the briefing, which was attended by secretaries-general of the four state Barisan component parties, Dr Rundi said it was to streamline the data and information of the parties with those obtained by the agencies.

“Most of the figures are very up-to-date from all the agencies. We want to really adhere to figures that are very precise, so we were given those figures and I’m quite happy because they are quite the same as what we have.

“These are agencies in the know, that go to the ground and so on. So at least we don’t take these figures from political bodies only but from third-party agencies which are more precise,” he said.

Dr Rundi also said the state Barisan had given its input on Sarawak’s interests for the ruling coalition’s election manifesto so that the state would not be left out.

“We will come up with a common manifesto by the Federal Barisan but we give them input on what is relevant to Sarawak. We don’t want it to be something that’s good for the nation but Sarawak is left out,” he said.

News

Tuesday March 5, 2013

Rundi: State Barisan to work harder to ensure a stronger coalition

By SHARON LING sharonling@thestar.com.my

By SHARON LING
sharonling@thestar.com.my