KUCHING, May 24: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah believes there is a high likelihood that the present state ruling coalition will leave Barisan Nasional (BN) to form its own local coalition.
He said that is because BN as a brand is no longer accepted by the people and there is a need to rebrand.
“Personally I see, BN as a brand is already not accepted. There is need for rebranding.
“But even before GE14, Sarawak BN is always different from the federal BN. Apart from the federal BN manifesto, Sarawak BN even had its own manifesto. That shows that we are quite different.
“0ne more thing, Sarawak is the only state that does not have UMNO (United Malays National Organisation),” said Abdul Karim who is also Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister.
He said while UMNO was a strong party, it could not get into the state which to him reflected Sarawak’s uniqueness and identity.
“So we just have to take out the name ‘BN’ and maintain that coalition among the state-based parties because that is the coalition that was voted in; 72 of us in the last state election,” Abdul Karim told DayakDaily today.
He said there would not be any major change in the state coalition apart from the re-branding.
“Personally, I see BN as technically dead already. BN used to have 13 parties inside there but if there are only two parties that play prominent roles — UMNO and PBB — I don’t consider that BN anymore.
“So we need to have a relook since BN is not really well-accepted, but we as Sarawakian parties were accepted in the last state election.
“So I think it is only fair that we look at ourselves in this silo, as Sarawak-based and form a coalition, a Sarawak alliance,” said Abdul Karim. — DayakDaily
