BERSATU has picked 41-year-old architect Jaziri Alkaf Suffian as the first local head of its Sarawak leadership committee.

In a dialogue with party chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Kuching this afternoon, party members were told the Santubong division chief was actually picked in a supreme council meeting on August 29.

Since the decision was never announced and party members were in the dark, it led to a member telling Dr Mahathir not to delay in appointing the local head.

The Santubong division is one of six divisions the party has registered with the Registrar of Societies.

The New Zealand-trained Jaziri, who is also founder and CEO of MyProdigy, is a resident of Kg Muhibbah, a Kuching urban Malay village.

MyProdigy is a student enhancement and youth development programme that exposes high school students to different learning methodologies to enhance their employability.

Jaziri takes over from Redzuan Yusof who was temporarily placed as Bersatu chief co-ordinator for Sarawak.

Redzuan, the Alor Gajah MP, is the minister of entrepreneur development.

Earlier in his address, Dr Mahathir called on the party to work with coalition partners even though they were former enemies.

In calling for discipline within Pakatan Harapan, Dr Mahathir said there is absolutely no chance for Bersatu to win in the coming Sarawak election on its own.

“We can’t win alone on our own. We have to work with the other PH parties even though they may be parties we didn’t like before.

“(So) to win we have to work together. That’s why we are in a coalition.”

He also warned members to accept unpopular decisions or decisions that do not cater to their specific interests.

Dr Mahathir said if the coalition does win the state election, the government will be PH government, not a Bersatu government. – September 16, 2019.