KUCHING, July 15: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg issued a stern warning to any individual or political party attempting to undermine Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) component parties.
In his speech during the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Ngiling Bidai Open House at the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) headquarters yesterday afternoon, he said when one component of GPS is being undermined, it is equivalent to undermining the whole of GPS.
“I would like to say that you touch one, you touch all. This is the principle of our understanding,” he said without giving specifics.
His speech comes in the wake of ongoing developments involving Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) which had their councillors dropped from the name list of new term appointments recently.
At the PSB annual delegates conference in Sibu yesterday, its president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, who is also the state Second Finance Minister claimed that GPS had been acting ‘hostile’ to it, especially after the whole councillor issues and the recent resignation of former party deputy president Datuk Jerip Susil.
Wong also claimed that the state government had also not provided its elected representatives allocations under the Minor Rural Projects (MRP) and the Rural Transformation Programme (RTP).
Over the past few months, PSB was also accused of pinching elected representative members from some GPS component parties, which further soured the party’s relationship with GPS.
Wong also said that it would be up to the Chief Minister to decide if he is to be kicked out of the state cabinet.
Meanwhile Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing who is also PRS president echoed Abang Johari’s sentiment: “You touch one, you touch all.”
He also reminded GPS component parties to be of one mind and one heart in facing political challenges ahead, adding that unity in GPS must be kept at all cost and ‘Sarawak First’ must take precedence over everything. — DayakDaily
