Quit govt, PBS and STAR told after PAS leader appointed as rep

 

DAP’s Jannie Lasimbang says an online petition opposing the appointment of a PAS assemblyman has garnered more than 18,000 signatures.

KOTA KINABALU: A DAP assemblyman has urged PBS and STAR to pull out of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government after a PAS member became one of the six nominated assemblymen today.

Kapayan assemblyman Jannie Lasimbang said STAR and PBS supporters would not have agreed with having a PAS man appointed to the state assembly, adding that the parties’ presidents had given assurances this would not happen.

Lasimbang also pointed out that an online petition opposing such an appointment had garnered more than 18,000 signatures in less than a week.

“PBS and STAR should do the right thing and declare that they would pull out of the GRS government after failing to stop the inclusion of PAS in the state government,” she said in a statement.

Lasimbang also expressed disappointment in the lack of women nominated to the state assembly and slammed GRS for only appointing the coalition’s two female assemblymen as assistant ministers in the same ministry.

“This not only shows that GRS has no faith in the abilities of its female assemblymen but also indicates stereotyping by putting them both in the ministry of community development and people’s well-being,” she said.

Meanwhile, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang expressed appreciation to Chief Minister Hajiji Noor for the appointment of its state secretary, Aliakbar Gulasan, as a nominated assemblymen.

Hadi described the appointment of a PAS member to the state assembly, for the first time, as the start of a new era for the party. He also thanked Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for making the appointment possible. - FMT