Activist scoffs at claim only GPS can uplift Sarawak

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg with the leaders of GPS parties at the coalition’s launch in Kuching on Jan 19. (Bernama pic)

KUCHING: A political activist has scoffed at Marudi assemblyman Penguang Manggil’s statement that only Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) can bring change to Sarawak, describing it as an obnoxious claim that is not backed by fact.

Speaking to FMT, Movement for Change Sarawak chairman Francis Paul Siah said the claim could not be true because the majority of Sarawakians are still suffering despite having been ruled for more than five decades by Barisan Nasional (BN), of which the main GPS party, PBB, was a member until last year.

He said the late chief minister, Adenan Satem, was the only leader in PBB’s history who showed he could bring beneficial changes. “If he were around today, GPS would be more respected by Sarawakians.”

Penguang, who is assistant minister of local government, claimed on Monday that only GPS was capable of ruling Sarawak.

Francis Paul Siah.

He also said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto was nothing more than a device for attracting votes.

Siah said Sarawakians had PH to thank for getting rid of BN, which he characterised as a “kleptocratic” regime.

But he also said both GPS and PH needed to “seriously pull up their socks” if they wanted to win the support of Sarawak voters in the coming state election.

He alleged that Sarawak PH leaders were too subservient to “their party’s bosses” in Peninsular Malaysia. “They are powerless to make decisions of their own, at times against their very conscience.”

He also alleged that PH was caught in dirty politics, giving the example of the emergence of sex video clips involving former PKR Youth leader Haziq Aziz.

“That sort of sleazy sex politics should never be allowed to rear its ugly head in Sarawak,” he said. - FMT