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MIRI, July 14: Democratic Action Party’s Peter Hee is worried that the collaboration between Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has given Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) “absolute power”.
When contacted today, the Sarawak DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) chief said while he was not surprised, he is worried that it might affect Sarawak’s democracy.
“I’m not interested in commenting on the move (for PSB to join PDP), but what worries me more is that this collaboration has the potential to create a ‘tragedy’ in a democratic society,” he said when contacted today.
He elaborated that he was worried PSB’s participation in the government had given absolute power to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the State assembly, reaching the highest level throughout history.
He said that in a State of single-party dominance, the government lacks effective checks and balances and political competition, which may cause decisions made to be less diverse and fail to represent the needs of different community groups.
He stated that as the leader of Sarawak Dapsy, he would remain steadfast in his position and lead the youth to actively participate in democracy and strive to balance the government, bringing positive change in Sarawak.
“To achieve effective checks and balances and exercise strong monitoring and criticism, it is important to ensure that opposition parties can freely voice their views and have sufficient resources and power,” he said.
“This requires the support of people’s power, political competition, citizen participation, and independent monitoring institutions,” he explained.
Yesterday (July 13), it was reported that the GPS component party PDP and the local opposition party PSB had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
While the specific details of the collaboration have not been disclosed, PDP president Dato Sri Tiong King Sing briefly explained that the agreement symbolised the parties’ commitment to advancing stability, solidarity and unity to strengthen the Sarawak government. — DayakDaily
