Sarawak Keadilan chief Hafsah Harun said today that the party will contest in only "one or two seats" in the parliamentary elections in the state.

"You will know by tomorrow (nomination day)," Hafsah told malaysiakini commenting on reports from Kuala Lumpur quoting its national president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as indicating that the party might stay away altogether from the elections in Sarawak.

The pick for the party's token fight in Sarawak is likely to be either Petra Jaya or Santubong or both in the Kuching Malay heartland considered as the strongholds of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak (PBB).

Hafsah, a former PBB women leader and state minister, stressed that by staying away from all other seats that it had intended to contest earlier, "Keadilan will be increasing the opposition's chances in winning" some seats in Sarawak.

She said the national leadership had decided that Sarawak is not a priority state and that scarce resources should be conserved for other priority states in the country.

Hafsah may stand

Hafsah's name has been mentioned as the party's possible candidate for Petra Jaya on the north bank of Sungai Sarawak that runs through this sprawling city of about 400,000 people. If she does contest, she will be facing a PBB new face, Kuching lawyer Fadillah Yusop, who the PBB leadership picked over another PBB potential candidate Ibrahim Baki, also a Kuching lawyer.

Keadilan will be trying to exploit the "anger and unhappiness" in some quarters within PBB local branch members after Ibrahim, a close ally of PBB deputy president II and state Tourism Minister Abang Johari Tun Openg, was bypassed in the selection process.

Although Keadilan is not seen as wielding much influence in the Malay areas, they think that this and other local issues associated with the state leadership and some of the projects undertaken recently within the area that have created some unhappiness with the locals could swing the votes away from the BN.

The other constituency that Keadilan might want to have to go is Santubong which is situated next to Petra Jaya.

In the last parliamentary elections, Keadilan's Husaini bin Hamdan almost created an upset when he lost narrowly by 1895 votes to BN-PBB's Rural Development Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Rohani Abdul Karim who polled 7955 votes.

Keadilan may field Husaini or Wan Zainal Abidin Wan Sanusi, who last stood in Petra Jaya and lost also narrowly to the then incumbent former federal Agriculture Minister and PBB vice president Dr Sulaiman Daud in this predominantly Malay constituency, like Santubong.

Barisan Nasional leaders later said the Anwar Ibrahim factor was one of the main reasons for the swinging of Malay votes to Keadilan. But political observers could not recall the jailed ex-deputy premier being much of an issue in the Sarawak elections in the past.

Staying out of Kuching

Meanwhile, Kedilan member Dominique Ng Kim Ho announced in Kuching today his decision not to contest in the Bandar Kuching parliamentary constituency. He said he would instead concentrate his efforts on the state elections in 2006.

Another prospective Independent candidate, former journalist Geoffrey Chua also announced his decision not to contest.

Barring any other last-minute entry by any other candidate, this will pave the way for a straight fight between Barisan Nasional's first-timer Senator Wee Kok Tiong and Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen, a lawyer.

In another development, newly-reinstated Parti Dayak Bansa Sarawak supreme council member Anthony Liman, an Iban lawyer, today announced his resignation from the party in protest over the selection of assistant state minister Joseph Entulu by the BN leadership to stand in the Selangau parliamentary constituency in place of the incumbent Joseph Mauh.

Both Joseph Entulu and Joseph Mauh are supporters of a PBDS faction led by state social development and urbanisation minister Dr James Masing.

Liman told malaysiakini that he failed to understand and appreciate why someone who had worked so hard for the de-registration of the party should be elected at all to represent the now reinstated party.

He has joined the opposition Sarawak National Party and will be contesting on a Snap ticket in Selangau.