GABUNGAN Parti Sarawak (GPS) will stick with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as his government can “stabilise this country”, leaders in the state’s ruling coalition said.

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice president Dr Stephen Rundi said GPS will continue to honour the promise it made when it opted to support Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) government formed in February last year.

“Whatever happens, we must make sure Malaysia is stable. Malaysia must continue to be one of the most stable governments in southeast Asia,” the state utilities minister told reporters in Petra Jaya, Kuching, today, after taking questions on the Umno Supreme Council’s decision to withdraw support for the Muhyiddin government.

GPS secretary-general Alexander Nanta Linggi said now is not the time for political tussles while the country is in the middle of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and dealing with a devastated economy and loss of livelihoods.

“It is time for the government to be stable, to concentrate on the important things, that is, fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Nanta, the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, said the prime minister’s move to promote Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to deputy prime minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to senior minister should be seen as a move to improve the government’s stability.

“However, it has ignited a tussle within Umno,” Nanta said, adding that this was negative for Malaysia.

Both Ismail Sabri and Hishammuddin are Umno politicians and belong the faction that supports continued co-operation with Muhyiddin and the Perikatan Nasional government.

Their promotions were announced by the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday, hours before the Umno meeting, and are seen as a way for Muhyiddin to check Zahid’s challenge to his power.

The council also agreed that Muhyiddin that should resign immediately and be replaced with an interim prime minister until the pandemic is brought under control. Thereafter, general elections should be held to elect a new government.

Nanta asked what guarantee an interim change in government would give in ensuring the pandemic was brought under control, as the major parties in Parliament all have thin majorities.

“A change of government may not result in stability,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing poked fun at Umno, likening its action as shooting your comrades in a war.

Umno and Muhyiddin’s Bersatu are allies in the government, although relations between the two parties have been thorny.

The four Sarawak-based parties that make up GPS are PBB, the lead party; PRS, the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). – July 8, 2021.