By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 28: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu)’s decision to not contest in the 12th Sarawak Election means that Krian seat held by Datuk Ali Biju will be given to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
Political analyst Datuk Peter Minos said the decision made by Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was a good and wise thing to do.
The decision would honour the friendship between both parties, with Bersatu stating that it will support GPS to ensure the party would have the majority to form the State government.
“Looks like friendly federal government parties such as Bersatu, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) will not disturb GPS but Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) may do it differently.
“PAS tried many times in past elections but got zero seats in Sarawak, often losing deposits. So it seems like Sarawakians have no love for PAS.
“Come to think of it, Peninsular-based political parties or their local cronies have no business in Sarawak. They better sort things out first in the Peninsular, which are at the moment not too good in many aspects,” he said in a statement today.
Minos further implied that it is best to leave Sarawak in the hands of Sarawak’s own leaders and political parties as they know the needs and aspirations of fellow Sarawakians.
“For example, Sarawak leaders have the natural ability in maintaining the culture of racial and religious harmony and understanding in the State.
“However, this is not quite so in the Peninsular whereby some of their branch parties in Sarawak like Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) do not even show basic courtesy and respect to each other.
“Their political ways and cultures are very different from that of Sarawak. We do not want a part of this,” he added.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin, during a press conference in Johor, announced that Bersatu will not be contesting in the Sarawak election even though there are a few places that it is confident it could win.
He said the decision was made after a discussion with GPS chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg where they decided that the most important thing is to ensure that the current party in Sarawak has a majority win.
Krian is currently held by Datuk Ali Biju who won the seat under PKR in a four-cornered fight in the 2011 Sarawak Election with 2,090 majority votes.
In the 2016 Sarawak Election, he then went on to defend his seat with 5,388 votes against Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Kilat Beriak who only secured 3,748 votes.
Ali then left PKR during the Sheraton Move in February 2020, which toppled the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, and was appointed deputy minister under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government after joining Bersatu. — DayakDaily
