KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party’s poor performance in the last state election should not be used as the basis for approving the application by Peninsula-based People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to set up a branch in Sarawak.
A PBB youth state exco Ambrose Jemut Ukam said Putra Jaya is making a big mistake in assuming that PPP could be an alternative to SUPP in the state.
“SUPP is a Chinese-dominant party while PPP is not. Therefore, don’t use the party’s loss of many seats in the last election as a reason to come in,” he said when contacted yesterday.
He pointed out that although SUPP only won six out of 19 seats contested in the last election, Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) still managed to get more than two-thirds majority in the election.
“If the Sarawak BN had lost in the last election, then we have no qualms accepting any Semenanjung-based component party of BN here but that is not the case.
“As a matter of fact, PBB, as the backbone of the State BN government, has won all its 35 seats,” he said.
Last Thursday, the party’s youth vice-chief Pandi Suhaili expressed his sadness, frustration and surprise with Putra Jaya’s decision to approve PPP’s application to open up branches in Sarawak.
He said the decision failed to reflect the spirit of brotherhood among BN component parties as echoed by the national BN leaders.
“Putra Jaya’s decision is really surprising because the Sarawak BN is still strong in Sarawak,” he said, adding the relationship between Sarawak and Putra Jaya could start to become frosty due to the decision.
Pandi added it would not be a surprise if Sarawak becomes suspicious of the sincerity of all BN leaders from the peninsula.
“Do we want to return to an era where all movements and speeches by BN leaders from Semenanjung are being questioned for their sincerity?” he asked, saying greed for power would only cause chaotic politics that would not benefit BN as a whole, be it at national or state level.
The vice-chief urged national BN leaders to give good justification for not respecting the spirit of brotherhood among BN component parties.
Ambrose opined that PPP was merely acting as an errand boy for a bigger party from the peninsula to test the water in the state.
“If we keep quiet (on the decision), they (the bigger party) will think that the majority of the rakyat have no problem seeing them come into the state.
“However, PPP has to be readied to be in the opposition in the state,” he said, adding he fully supported his vice-chief in criticising the move to approve the application.
Last Wednesday, Ken Laben from Sarawak Registrar of Society (ROS) sent an SMS to Utusan Borneo, a sister company of Borneo Post, to confirm the decision to give the green light to PPP to set up a branch in the state.
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