KUCHING, Nov 24: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will remain in power come the next state polls due in 2021 if the newly-registered local pact promote itself well and Sarawakians accepts what it stands for.
Political observer Datuk Peter Minos said it was important not only for locals to hear about GPS, but they must know what it is fighting for and whether its leaders could safeguard the state’s rights and interests.
“What Sarawkians are keenly interested in now is how GPS will get back Sarawak’s powers as spelt out in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and how GPS will get more funds from Petronas, on top of other things from the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government,” he said in a statement today.
Peter opined that GPS leaders needed to tell and convince Sarawakians why they had to exit from the Barisan Nasional (BN), which has been around for so long many people accepted the coalition as second nature of sorts.
“Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has publicly stated that Sarawak could only be run and ruled by Sarawakians, and Sarawak leaders on the ground echoed that only Sarawakians know Sarawak and its people.
“This is logical. Sarawakians like the language. Very good that Abang Johari has said it candidly and openly.
“Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak do not like what Abang Johari said and that is expected. If Sarawakians go in full force for the slogan `Only Sarawakians can rule and govern Sarawak’, PKR and DAP Sarawak, being controlled and dominated by Malayan leaders and seen as Malayan-based, will see a natural death in Sarawak,” he predicted.
Peter said this spirit of `Sarawak nationalism’ had, in fact, been in existence long before Malaysia came into being in 1963.
“But now it is being openly talked about and revived in intensity due to the recent words of Abang Johari. Especially now that the PH federal government appears not that friendly to GPS and Sarawak as a whole, Sarawak nationalism has been awakened and rising.” he reckoned — DayakDaily
