KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) election machinery is set to move into high gear now that the Emergency in Sarawak has been lifted to pave the way for the state election.

       Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Women’s chief Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the coalition was now waiting for the Election Commission (EC) to announce the nomination and polling dates as well as the standard operating procedure.

       “The end of the Emergency means that our machinery should go into the next gear.

       “Due to Covid-19, we must be mindful of compliance with the SOP set by the EC,” she said yesterday.

       Fatimah said party workers would face new challenges in the coming election, particularly women campaigners who were used to doing house-to-house and face-to-face campaigning.

       “However, we are in high spirits and ready to march into the battlefield,” she said.

       PBB is a component party of the ruling GPS state coalition, along with Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).

       SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting said the lifting of the Emergency was a move to uphold democracy and return power to the people to elect and form a new state government.

       He said it would be against democracy for the state election to be further delayed as Sarawak was now entering the Covid-19 endemic phase and 90% of its adult population was fully vaccinated.

       “We feel the time is now to let the people decide on a new government with a fresh mandate to govern the state,” he said.

       Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah consented to lift the Emergency in Sarawak on Wednesday, ahead of its scheduled end next Feb 2.