By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Oct 22: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will only consider forming an alliance with potential political parties on election night.
Sarawak Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian said this is the coalition’s stand because it wants to make sure that Malaysia can form a stable government post-15th General Election (GE15).
“What we want to do now is that on the night of the election, we (GPS) will talk (about forming an alliance) because we want to make sure that Malaysia can form a stable government.
“Why is it so important for us to form a stable government? It is because, in our economy, the Malaysian ringgit keeps dropping against the United States dollar, which also affects Sarawak.
“Sarawak cannot run away (from this problem) unless we have ‘Sarawak ringgit’, but at the moment, we only have the Malaysian ringgit, so we cannot run away.
“That is what the Parliament of Malaysia will have to decide. Because there is a law. If you want to change the law, you have to go to Parliament,” he said in an interview with TVS on Wednesday (Oct 19).
Dr Sim, who is also Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president, stressed that despite the alliance, GPS would continue to be politically independent.
He explained that the fall of Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 2018 General Election provided an unexpected opportunity for the four then-BN component parties in Sarawak to form a new coalition of its own — GPS.
This path then led the four parties — SUPP alongside Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) — to be politically independent, so much so that it makes its own decision without referring to a superior in Kuala Lumpur.
“However, there are still some political parties saying ‘they are for Sarawak, but I need to clear with Kuala Lumpur first’ (sic), so unlike them, GPS is politically independent.
“So that’s why Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said this GE15 will be the first federal election that GPS is going in by ourselves. We are independent,” he added. — DayakDaily
