KUCHING, Aug 20: The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is very rational in believing what it can achieve and what may seem remote, said Political secretary to the Chief Minister Charles Chad Nissom.
Charles in a statement today, said it is strongly believed that a proposal to have a Deputy Prime Minister from GPS is within its reach and if that comes true, it will be a milestone.
“He (Chong Chieng Jen) is not only naive, but poor in mathematical analysis, at least on the surface. He could not read between the lines and that’s why he couldn’t see the rationale,” he said.
Charles was responding to a recent statement from the Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman who said that GPS cost Malaysia its chance to have the first East Malaysian Prime Minister by not supporting Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is aligned to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s camp and submitted Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s name as the next Prime Minister nominee instead.
According to Charles, of the total 222 parliamentary seats, Sabah and Sarawak have a total of 56 MPs while Malaya has 164 MPs, whereby two of the MPs’ seats are vacant for now following its representative’s death, and no by-election being held as yet.
He noted, Warisan, which is headed by Mohd Shafie, only has eight seats to his credit while DAP has 42 and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has 35 seats.
Simple logic, he continued, Mohd Shafie, if he were to be the PH’s Prime Minister nominee, with only eight MP seats to his credit, will look like a bullied puppet subscribing to DAP and PKR whims and fancies.
It doesn’t take a genius to discover this DAP hidden agenda and intrigue. GPS on the other hand has a valid and tangible proposal by “bargaining” for a Deputy Prime Minister to reciprocate for what it did and contributed in the formation of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and the next Federal government.
“Its a form of acknowledgement to Sarawak. If it comes true, it’s history in the making as echoed by our Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing,” he added.
Charles also pointed out that GPS has proven that its decision to be friendly with PN was right.
He explained Sarawak had been able to chart her own destinies and enhance her autonomy since the last 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018, such as the imposition of sales tax and seeing some degree of decentralisation of powers reverted back to Sarawak.
“Moreover, GPS’ role as “King Maker” also cannot be sidelined. But if he (Chong) is firm in his belief that Malaysia lost her chance for Borneo states to become first Prime Minister by not nominating Mohd Shafie who only has eight MPS, then Sarawak DAP which is headed by Chong with six MP seats should consider challenging LGE (Lim Guan Eng) for the Secretary General post at national level. Let’s see it if numbers really work or fancy,” he said. — DayakDaily
