KUCHING (April 2): Perikatan Nasional (PN) is more concerned about ensuring a big victory for its partner Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the 12th Sarawak state election than seat distribution for PN component parties, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin, who is PN chairman, said the question of whether Bersatu would be given seats to contest in the State polls was secondary.

As a partner sharing the same struggle in a coalition, it was important to ensure that GPS would get solid support from voters to be returned to power with even more seats, said Muhyiddin, who is also Bersatu president.

“If possible, we want a landslide victory, and I believe it can be achieved because of the efforts of the Chief Minister (Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) and other State Cabinet members and partners in GPS who have been working hard.

“Whatever the situation, we (PN) who are in Sarawak from Bersatu and PAS will give our full support. This is important and there won’t be splits,” he told a media conference after visiting an upgrading project of the Sarawak General Hospital here today.

“Whatever it is we will discuss and leave it to the discretion of Abang Johari and the (GPS) leadership in Sarawak to decide...I don’t want to elaborate,” said Muhyiddin, who was on the final day of his two-day working visit to Sarawak.

Earlier, GPS chief whip in Parliament Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the ruling State coalition would contest all 82 seats in the Sarawak polls but would still have an understanding with Bersatu.

GPS, which comprises Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), is a partner of the five-party PN.

Bersatu holds one seat in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly through Krian assemblyman Datuk Ali Biju, who won the seat on a PKR ticket in the 11th State election in 2016.

Ali, who is also Saratok Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister, was part of the Datuk Seri Azmin Ali-led group which left PKR in February last year before joining Bersatu in August.

Apart from Ali, another MP from Sarawak, Datuk Willie Mongin, who is Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, and Puncak Borneo MP, also made the same move.