KUCHING: It would not be a wise move for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Parti Warisan Sabah to join the proposed Pakatan Nasional government.
This is mainly because the new coalition has a very dominant Malay and Islamic narrative. In the context of multi-racial and multi-faith Malaysia the move would be disadvantageous and counter-productive.
In making this observation, Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a political analyst at the Department of Sociology, University of Malaya, noted that there are 82 non-Muslim Bumiputera and non-Malay Bumiputera leaders in Parliament.
“This means that 37 or so per cent of the non-Muslims are Ibans, Kadazans, Bidayuhs, Chinese and Indians,” he observed.
“Thus, Sarawak and Sabah are not comfortable with the situation. Malaysia requires ethnic diversity.”
That perhaps explains why Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg stressed that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) would not get involved in Pakatan Harapan (PH) or Pakatan Nasional.
“He sees it as more of an issue centred in Malaya, rather than Sarawak,” said Awang Azman.
He explained that Sarawak had its own unique political situation where four parties — Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) — have formed a coalition called Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
“This multi-racial GPS is the backbone of the state government, so obviously the idea of a national coalition is not appropriate for Sarawak and Sabah,” he said.
Still, he said, the Pakatan Nasional idea is expected to persist due to the current volatile political climate in which the opposition was inclined to promote the proposition to win the people’s support and weaken Pakatan Harapan.
Hence, the ruling coalition’s leadership needs to be firmer to ensure that no more effort would be made to bring down the government.
Regarding Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) Awang Azman opined that it was not a party that Parti Warisan Sabah and GPS could work with comfortably. In fact, they would not join Pakatan Nasional if PAS was included.
On those leaders (such as Datuk Seri Azmin Ali) who tried to form Pakatan Nasional, he said they needed PAS because they had only 18 MPs and accepting the Islamic party fit their agenda.
“However, this is not compatible with Sarawak and Sabah’s ethnic diversity,” he said, adding that GPS leaders had consistently stated that Sarawak did not want to become subservient to Malaya. Therefore, he said, it would not benefit GPS to join Pakatan Nasional. In fact, it could backfire badly because the prevailing sentiment is that certain Sarawak rights are being disregarded by the federal government.
