Sarawak CM issues warning against move to undermine ruling GPS coalition

KUCHING, July 14 — Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg today issued a warning to any political party to not undermine the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in its efforts to serve the people.

“I would like to say that you touch one, you touch all. This is the principle of our understanding,” he said, without being specific at the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Gawai Dayak closing ceremony, which was attended by leaders of GPS component parties.

The chief minister was believed to have directed his warning to Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), which has been accused of recruiting members from PRS, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) over the past few months.

At the PSB annual delegates conference yesterday, PSB president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, who is also the state Minister of International Trade and e-Commerce, claimed that PSB only took in a few leaders from PRS, SUPP and PDP who had either resigned or been sacked.

“The launching of our party in various areas and recruitment of new members is to enable us to serve more people particularly the rural community. These areas may have belonged to some component parties of GPS,” he was quoted as saying.

Wong also claimed GPS had suddenly turned hostile to PSB, by treating them like an Opposition party and that allocations to its state lawmakers under the Minor Rural Projects (MRP) fund and the Rural Transformation Project (RTP) fund had been frozen.

Saying that he had no locus standi to be a minister anymore, Wong had said he would tender his resignation after seeking advice from the chief minister.

Earlier in his speech at the PRS Gawai Dayak closing ceremony, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing reminded GPS compoent parties that if they are of one mind and one heart, nothing is impossible.

He said unity in GPS must be kept at all cost, adding that the battle cry of “Sarawak First” must take precedence over everything.

“Therefore, sincerity and honest are of paramount importance among the four component parties of GPS.

“What mistakes we committed in Sarawak during the last general election which resulted in our loss, must not be repeated,” he said.

Masing said GPS component parties must look back at the past, but only to learn from what they had done wrong or the insincerity they had preached and look to the future with pride to do better and with sincerity to act as one GPS.

Related Articles Masing: Foes or otherwise, GPS needs to be wary of PSB Just quit already, Sarawak DCM tells state minister International performers and music groups congregate at Rainforest World Music Festival ‘19