New parties a BN ploy in Sarawak

According to Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, BN's multi-party strategy to divide voters worked well in Sabah in the GE13, so now “they want to implement it in Sarawak”.

KUCHING: The approval of five political parties in Sarawak is a move to re-play Barisan Nasional’s “gainful” strategy in Sabah.

Said DAP national advisor advisor Lim Kit Siang: “They (BN) had gained so much in Sabah during the last general elections. They have gained four more parliamentary seats as well as eight more state seats.”

Lim opined that the five new parties in Sarawak is BN’s strategy to split votes in their favour.

Yesterday the Registrar of Society handed over the registration certificates to five protem committees in Putrajaya.

The parties are Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDS Baru), Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras), Parti Bumi Kenyalang, Peace Party and Parti Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak Bersatu (PERSB).

“These new parties were approved by ROS in such a short time. In contrast, DAP had to face the risk of deregistration. Is this a proof of political oppression by BN?” he asked reporters at a press conference here today.

Lim was in Kuching to brief the Sarawak DAP leadership in relation to the upcoming party CEC elections.

He alleged the ROS directive to have DAP’s CEC re-elections was part of a ‘new agenda’ by Umno/BN to ‘demolish and destroy DAP’, and subsequently Pakatan Rakyat itself.

“The Umno/BN Demolish/Destroy DAP (DDD) campaign has a new agenda after the disastrous BN performance in the 13th General Elections, which is to eliminate the DAP from the political arena by all means, whether fair or foul, and by extension the Pakatan Rakyat,” Lim said.

Media war
He earlier said the the ROS director general Abdul Rahman Othman should stop ‘acting on the script of the Umno/BN’s ‘DDD’ campaign. He urged Rahman to be independent, impartial and professional.

Yesterday, Rahman urged DAP to stop its ‘battle’ with ROS in the media and comply with procedures.

“It is the ROS which is guilty of being part of a ‘media war’ against the DAP in the past eight months.

“Nobody is surprised by this Umno/BN agenda, but the RoS should not get involved in this nefarious Umno/BN agenda but must act as an independent, impartial and professional agency overseeing registered societies and political parties.

“It is not too late for hims to discharge his duties lawfully and professionally, and the first step he should do is to give the reasons why he is not satisfied with the DAP CEC elections last December and wants the re-elections,” said him.

His view was echoed by party vice-chairman and state DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen.

“BN must have got the inspiration from what happened in Sabah during GE13. And now they are doing the same thing (getting more political parties) to split votes during the coming state elections,” added Chong.

Asked if Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat would work with these new parties, Chong said the ‘matter needed to be studied first”.

“If they are indeed genuine and share the same aspirations as us, then we will look to cooperate with them,” said Chong who is Bandar Kuching MP as well as Kota Sentosa assemblyman.