KUCHING: Sarawak DAP called on its members and supporters not to be disappointed with the exclusion of any of its five Members of Parliament from the national unity government announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Its chairman Chong Chieng Jen said the exclusion will not weaken, but instead, it will make the state DAP work even harder and grow stronger.
“Our party’s struggle is not for ministerial positions but to see that our ideals are implemented as policies for the
betterment of the people and the country,” he said when responding to the announcement on the appointment of ministers of the national unity government.
Chong, who is also Stampin Member of Parliament, said he was informed that there were some quarters who had insisted on the exclusion of any MP of the state DAP from the federal Cabinet in exchange for their support for Anwar as the prime Minister.
“We understand that in the general national interest of stability and stronger support, the prime minister had acceded to such demand,” he alleged.
He said it was through the party’s initiatives that prevented Perikatan Nasional (PN) and the Islamist PAS from becoming the federal government, thus saving the secularism of the country and the freedom of religion.
“We were able to do so by having successfully convinced the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to change from its initial support for PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister to Anwar.
He said with GPS having ministerial positions in the unity government, it is now subjected to Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) fundamental principles of transparency, accountability and good governance.
“With the installation of this unity government led by PH, we are confident that gone are the old days of opaque governance fraught with corruption and abuses,” Chong said, adding the DAP will continue to play its role to see to it that principle of transparency, accountability and good governance is carried out in the new government.
“We must persist in our ideals and continue in our struggle to make this country a better place for our children and the generations to come, the one that all Malaysian can be proud of,” he said.
In the just concluded general election, the state DAP won in Stampin, Bandar Kuching, Mas Gading, Lanang and Sibu.
