KUCHING, June 26: Pakatan Harapan (PH) will have a better chance to topple the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the next state polls, due in three years, if Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) enters Sarawak.
In stating this, Sarawak PH chairman Chong Chieng Jen, however, said the establishment of PPBM in Sarawak would depend on the support of Sarawakians.
“It is not for any political party to say “yes” or “no” to PPBM entering Sarawak, but rather the people of Sarawak,” he said in a press statement today.
There had been calls by netizens to stop PPBM from coming to Sarawak, following the announcement by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir yesterday that PPBM might set up branches in the state.
Some popular social media sites such as https://www.facebook.com/MySarawakInsight/, even urged Chong, who is also Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chief, to tell Dr Mahathir that Sarawak did not welcome race-based politics, like how Sarawakians rejected United Malays National Organisation (Umno) in the past.
However, Chong, who is also Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, sees it differently, and he gave the following three points as his arguments:
1. PPBM is not Umno. It is Umno and its racism that Sarawakians rejected all this while, not PPBM.
2. The members of PPBM in Sarawak will still be Sarawakians.
3. PPBM in Sarawak will still subscribe to the same Pakatan Harapan policies, which are generally accepted by the people of Sarawak
Chong stressed that it was not the individual party that matters but rather the policies of the PH government — on good governance, transparency and justice — that matters most to the people in Sarawak.
He opined that PPBM in Sarawak would definitely pose an additional threat to Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), and this would increase the chances of PH Sarawak coming to power in the next state election.
Late yesterday, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg commented that it was up to PPBM to decide whether to spread its wings to the state. — DayakDaily
