PBM says incumbents to defend seats in GE15

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 28 — Parti Bangsa Malaysia's (PBM) elected lawmakers will be defending their seats in the 15th general election (GE15), its president Datuk Larry Sng said today.

The Julau MP said that the plan is for all of its incumbents to contest in the coming election — a contradiction to what president designate Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin had said earlier, which was that the party would not compete in Sarawak.

"The plan is to contest those seats. At the moment we have Ampang, Tebrau, Julau and Lahad Datu, but there will be some more additions that we will announce soon that will bring the numbers up.

"We are expecting others from Selangor, Perak, and we believe some other states, including Sabah and Sarawak. But it is only incumbent seats at this moment,” he said.

PBM, which was rebranded from Sabah Workers Party last November, said it still supports Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The party has also applied to join the Barisan Nasional coalition but a decision has yet to be announced.

Last Thursday, Zuraida had told a press conference in Kuching that the party's focus was on joining BN and the coalition was not present in Sarawak.

She also said that the party would not contest in the state.

Earlier today, Lahad Datu MP Datuk Mohammadin Ketapi announced he is joining PBM, bringing the party’s MPs to four.

The former tourism minister said that he is keen on PBM's synergy between its East Malaysian and Peninsular Malaysian elements.