KUCHING, June 21: A Member of Parliament (MP) today challenged Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to clarify whether there was any truth to what acting Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said about Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in a video that has gone viral.
In the video, Zahid was heard saying he had met the chief minister before, and Abang Johari assured him that GPS would return to the BN fold in the event the coalition returned to power in future.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said Abang Johari Openg should now clarify the intentions and direction of GPS, in view of the widely circulated video and also because the matter involved public interest.
“(What Zahid said) is contrary to the claims made by Chief Minister Abang Johari on June 7, 2018, which was widely reported in the media, that there was no such meeting with Zahid. So is there really such a meeting? Either one party is lying or both actually are. I believe they owe it to the people to explain the situation,” Dr Yii said in a press statement.
The video is believed to have been shot during an Umno Hari Raya celebration in Selangor yesterday. In the video, Zahid claimed Abang Johari met him to negotiate the formation of GPS in view of the next state election, which is due in 2021.
Zahid, who did not say when the meeting took place, said he agreed to the formation of GPS, which comprises the four parties that made up the now defunct Sarawak BN.
Dr Yii wondered whether the GPS government had some kind of ‘secret pact’ with Umno, and whether the establishment of GPS was merely a political gimmick just to win the next state polls.
He opined that if Zahid was telling the truth, it meant the GPS leadership was prepared to forsake its principles and wishes of the people in order to stay in power.
“We (DAP) still hold to our stance that GPS is only ‘old wine in a new bottle’ or just a superficial change of façade because the same leaders are still in the party. They are the same ones who are either directly involved or are accomplices to the alleged corruption and robbing of our state’s resources.
“It is still the same old component parties of Sarawak BN practising the same old BN policies,” Dr Yii pointed out.
Dr Yii argued that Sarawakians should not be misled about the intentions of GPS or even made to support such a coalition on false pretences. — DayakDaily
