KUCHING (Feb 5): Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) should ‘stop their arrogance’ and talk to other local parties if they want a real chance at toppling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the polls, said an opposition leader.
Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) president Bobby William said a multi-cornered fight would only benefit the state’s ruling coalition because the votes for the Opposition would be split.
He said in a statement that PH and PSB must realise there are other local parties in Sarawak.
“If you are truly serious about fighting GPS in the coming state election, please talk to the other parties as well.
“And please stop your ego and arrogance,” he said in reaction to an analyst’s comment in The Borneo Post yesterday on a proposed collaboration between PH and PSB in the polls.
University Malaysia Sarawak Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities deputy dean Dr Arnold Puyok said the opposition coalition and Sarawak-based party ought to be ‘realistic’ and avoid clashing with each other if they want to defeat GPS.
He also suggested that they engage a third party to carry out an independent study on their winnability in the state election in order for collaboration to materialise.
PH Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen had recently proposed a seat distribution with PSB but it was rejected.
Bobby believed that when it comes to elections, every party including the opposition should emphasise on fielding winnable candidates.
He said there was no point fielding the less popular candidates for the sake of contesting.
The Gabungan Anak Sarawak (Gasak) alliance protem president said elections were not a race to see which party could nominate the most candidate but how many seats they could ultimately win.
He also hoped that Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) would agree with his views.
PBK has declined to join Gasak which currently consist of PBDSB, Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi), Sarawak Workers’ Party (SWP), and leaders of Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) and Sarawak Independence Alliance (SIA).
“The tussle for seats is not the way forward and therefore I call upon all opposition parties to cease fire and stop your greed for ‘unwinnable seats’ and let us have a roundtable discussion.
“Be gentleman to each other, we are politicians who have the same goal, to fight GPS. Let us discuss what would be the similarities and discrepancies that we have and let us have a mutual understanding on the particular matters and find a solution for it,” he said.
Bobby cautioned that if PH Sarawak, PSB and PBK kept fighting, they would all fight for a loss cause and the loser is none other than Dayak community who are scattered everywhere in opposition parties.
He said the opposition parties must think about their supporters, who wanted changes.
“Don’t give them false hope by winning 10 to 15 seats because it will not change the government. At the same time, let us politic less against each other and focus on the common opponent.
“Put your personal goal behind and focus on the bigger Opposition agendas,” he said.
The state election is due in the middle of this year but just when it would be held is now uncertain due to the proclamation of Emergency as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The post PBDSB chief tells PH, PSB to put aside ego, work with other Opposition parties in polls appeared first on Borneo Post Online.