Baru Bian: PBB dominating GPS, other parties should consider quitting alliance

Independent lawmaker Baru Bian has hit out at the domination of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition by Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg's Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), claiming an imbalance in the distribution of power in the coalition.

Referring to the recent joint statements by Perikatan Nasional component parties to which GPS was a signatory through Abang Johari, Baru (above) said it was very obvious that GPS federal ministers and deputy ministers were all from PBB except for one deputy minister.

“Clearly the distribution of power is very unequal in the Sarawakian alliance called GPS.

“Were all GPS leaders consulted before the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed? Or were the others expected to meekly go along with their big brother PBB’s decisions?” Baru said in a statement yesterday. 

Besides PBB, the other GPS members are Sarawak United People’s Party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and the Progressive Democratic Party.

PRS president James Masing had earlier maintained that GPS was not part of PN and was only cooperating with the coalition, saying: "We are PN plus GPS."

Selangau MP Baru was among those who wavered during the "Sheraton Move" in late February, initially moving away from Pakatan Harapan and then agreeing with the coalition to back Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the premiership.

As an independent, the former works minister who sat between PN and Harapan benches at Monday's Parliamentary sitting, is not bound by either whips and his inclinations are uncertain.

So far, Baru is believed to have shown an interest in Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), a party loosely aligned to GPS.

Baru, who is also assemblyperson for Ba Kelalan, said that the confusion in GPS over the MoU signed by Abang Johari gave rise to many questions.

“Are they so clueless that they did not know what they were signing? That would be a huge worry for Sarawakians. The GPS government has just signed an agreement with Petronas – did they know what they were signing then?

“Or could it be that those few baffled GPS leaders were unaware because someone from among them just signed the MoU without the agreement of those baffled?” he asked.

He pointed out that after GE14, Abang Johari had led the parties out of BN saying they could be destroyed in the upcoming state elections, which are due by 2021.

“But in March this year, the chief minister did a u-turn and announced that GPS would be supporting the backdoor government in the form of PN plus GPS.

“Effectively, that is a statement that GPS has decided to support Umno again, after two years of their anti-Umno, anti-Malaya grandstanding,” he said.

“GPS, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Sharing a bed with Umno/PAS and yet insisting that you are not married is too absurd for Sarawakians to swallow.”

He added that it was time for the "weaker" component parties of GPS to seriously reassess if they should continue in this unequal alliance with PBB. - Mkini