AN UNMISTAKABLE WARNING TO ABANG JO & GPS: YOU DON’T HAVE TO JOIN HARAPAN BUT OTHERS IN SARAWAK WILL – ‘BERSATU TO FOLLOW PKR, AMANAH, DAP INTO SARAWAK POLITICAL SCENE’

PETALING JAYA — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) plans to make its presence felt in Sarawak, a move that could strain ties with local parties already weary of and resistant to peninsula interference.

Prime Minister and PPBM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced the decision after chairing the party’s supreme council earlier this evening.

“Since other Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties like PKR, Amanah are already there we felt we should also be there,” he told a press conference held at the party’s headquarters here.

Acknowledging that the move may not sit well with some of the mainstay Sarawak parties, Dr Mahathir said an alliance with Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) was not necessary.

“They don’t have to join us if they don’t want to,” he said.

“But since Pakatan Harapan component parties are also there then we feel that we should also be there.”

GPS comprises Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) — control 19 federal seats and over two-thirds of the state’s 82-seat assembly.

Sarawak was widely viewed as a “safe deposit” for then ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), owing to the strength of its local component members, which have remained in power since Malaysia was formed in 1963.

The four parties announced its departure from BN just a month after the coalition was defeated at the May 9 polls, a move analysts said was meant to safeguard their own political survival.

An independent coalition made of Sarawak parties will give its leaders more freedom to pursue local issues without complications that would have risen from ties with peninsula parties.

Sarawak is the only state in the country where Umno has no presence, even during the time when Dr Mahathir led the BN anchor party.

That could change now that PPBM plans to spread its influence there, and Dr Mahathir hinting that it was not too concern about straining ties with GPS.

Dr Mahathir had indicated this when he revealed that PPBM will not be going to Sabah, a decision made in deference to its allies, Parti Warisan Sabah.

“We won’t go to Sabah because there we have Warisan, who we deem as friends,” he said.

MALAY MAIL