SERIAN: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) said Wednesday none of its Members of Parliament are backing Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has claimed sufficient MP support to form a new government.GPS Chairman and Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, in confirming this, described Anwar’s behaviour as “weird”, adding that he had never communicated with the PKR President on the matter except during the crisis just before the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in late February.
“GPS is fully behind Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister, as our Prime Minister and I have said that during the Malaysia Day celebration in Sibu,” he said at a packed press conference after a meet the people session at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Chung Hua, here.
All GPS component party leaders at the press conference also declared their full support behind Muhyiddin as the Prime Minister. The State-ruling coalition has 18 MPs.
“Why Datuk Seri Anwar has to do that I don’t know. You (reporters) ask him lah,” he said.
Asked if it was Anwar’s strategy to lure Sabah politicians to join him and to confuse Sabah voters ahead of polling day on Saturday, Abang Johari said: “You analyse lah. My analysis is (Anwar is) weird.”
He said the Sarawak Government is also happy with the amount of the petroleum state sales tax paid by Petronas to the State Government last week as well as progress made in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) negotiations.
“Malaysia must have a stable government. Our economy and the rakyat’s welfare are more important,” he added.
Meanwhile, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Vice-President Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah dismissed a rumour claiming that certain GPS Members of Parliament (MPs) have joined the Pakatan Harapan coalition led by opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said all these hearsay about MPs from GPS, to which PBB is the backbone, jumping over to join Anwar were rubbish, aimed to create uncertainty and instability to the nation’s politics.
“Sarawak GPS is as solid as ever with PN (Perikatan Nasional) and PM TSMY (Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin). We are not easily swayed and be pulled by our nose…more so by the likes of Anwar. Anwar must learn to respect us in Sarawak,” he said.
In a WhatsApp message, he said no amount of “carrot danglings” would sway GPS parties’ support from the current government led by Muhyiddin. The other components in GPS include Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).
“We agreed to team up with PN to create stability to Malaysia’s politics and we will not be despicable in creating instability after that,” said Abdul Karim, who is also the State Tourism, Arts and Culture, Youth and Sports Minister.
Meanwhile, SUPP President Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian, in a post in his Facebook page, had cynically wrote that GPS was focussing its attention to uplift the wellbeing of the people in Sarawak, rather than continue to play politics.
“In Sarawak, we focus on the people, while others focus on playing politics. Since early this morning, the fake rumours that PN Plus (government had collapsed) had been flying (around) furiously,” he said.
Dr Sim, who is also the State Local Government and Housing Minister, was with Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg in his trip to Serian, about 60km from here, for a series of official programmes.
