A BUSINESS friend who happened to be in Sibu last weekend was amazed with the large turnout at the PKR’s ‘Friends of PKR’ dinner.

The dinner held at Sibu Trade and Exhibition Centre was said to be massively attended by both supporters and sympathisers of the opposition party.

To make the dinner more interesting was the attendance by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who flew in to this once prosperous timber town all the way from Kuala Lumpur.

All eyes were on the Ngemah state assemblyman Gabriel Adit that evening who finally laid to rest speculations that he would join PKR.

Also present at the dinner were former Sri Aman MP Jimmy Donald and former PRS leader Beginda Minda who made news recently for stating that PBB is a bully in the state BN.

Not to be missed at the dinner to lend their support were state DAP leaders, assemblyman for Bukit Assek Wong Ho Leng and Kidurong assemblyman Chiew Chin Sing.

And yes, Adit finally joined the party, thus adding PKR’s hold in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) to two seats. The other is Padungan assemblyman Dominique Ng Kim Ho.

DAP has six seats in the DUN with another seat Engkilili held by independent Dr Rayong Johnical.

Before leaving for Kuala Lumpur, Anwar made a short stop in Sarikei to receive new applications from Kung Chin Chin, a former DAP candidate who stood as the party’s candidate in the 2006 state election and as independent in the March 8 general election and lost.

With the latest political development, the talk of the town now has suddenly focused on the state election despite the fact that it is only due in 2011.

The massive turnout at the dinner must have rung an alarm bell by now to the state Barisan Nasional which has thus far won the state elections with ease, with the exception of Chinese urban seats.

With Adit, closely linked to former PBDS president Datuk Amar Leo Moggie, now a PKR representative, political observers are turning their eyes to rural seats which have all the years been the BN’s bastion.

But with PKR landing in Sarawak, would this still be the case?

PKR together with its partners, DAP and PAS, which has gained its footing in five states in the peninsula — Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Kelantan and Penang – and denied BN its two-thirds majority in the March 8 general election, will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming state election.

Judging from the previous state election records, rural seats had always been the BN’s stronghold and now that PKR is trying to make inroads into these areas, the BN must not take the attempt lightly.

The state BN must not brush aside the threat posed by Pakatan Rakyat as the coalition is definitely not short of resources and means to take on BN and make it run for its money.

Many issues in the state such as the native customary rights (NCR) land, renewal of leasehold and of course, the current economic slump, will definitely be key issues in the state election.

With the Pakatan Rakyat now synonymous to change, people are seeing the coalition as the alternative to BN which has ruled the country for half a century since independence.

And recently, two-term DAP Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen who is also Kota Sentosa state assemblyman, in an interview with a news portal was confident that his party would further make inroads into a few more state seats currently held by SUPP.

SUPP leaders must well be prepared for any further catastrophe if nothing drastic is taken to revamp the party.

Chong has definitely scored political mileage in the interview for speaking out on few issues close to the hearts of the people.

It takes the leadership of the state BN to present a new hope and a change to the people of Sarawak that BN is still the most preferred choice over the alternative Pakatan Rakyat.

Singing the old tune of politics of development or unity and stability may not sink into the heart of the young voters — who will make up additional two million voters in the next general election — anymore as they are looking at politics in a totally different lens.

And not long ago, a political scientist from a local public university was telling me that prior to the March 8 general election, Anwar had been telling his political partners that the opposition could make inroads into a few states and deny the BN its two-thirds majority.

But none of them, according to this political scientist, believed him and the result on the night of the general election proved that Anwar was damn right with his prediction, except for the Sept 16 takeover brouhaha.

Should he make another claim in two years’ time that the opposition will give the state BN a run for its money, would you and I believe it? I am not a soothsayer though.