THE Sarawak Report blog is urging the Pakatan Harapan federal government not to cut any deals with the state Barisan Nasional.

Its editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, said state BN parties should not be allowed into PH’s fold, warning that Governor Taib Mahmud still held tremendous influence and should not be trusted. 

“Harapan’s leaders ought not to make deals with Taib that could tarnish the image of this government and betray its real supporters from the outset,” she wrote in an editorial.

The move, which would involve 19 Sarawak BN parliamentarians, would reduce the number of BN seats in parliament to 60 and give PH 141 seats, seven short of a two-thirds majority.

“According to reports, three elderly former political allies sat down yesterday to discuss the mending of broken alliances. The new prime minister, his former finance minister (Daim Zainuddin) and the governor of Sarawak.

“Following the discussion, it emerged that Taib, who still wields the real power in the state he owns so much of, has agreed to move his PBB party over from BN to Harapan, consolidating the grip of the new ruling coalition into an overwhelming majority – the sort that Dr Mahathir has always been used to governing with.”

Rewcastle-Brown said Dr Mahathir could not announce a full scale enquiry into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal and pursue former prime minister Najib Razak “whilst turning a blind eye to the tens of billions taken from Sarawak”. 

“(Dr Mahathir) cannot investigate the corruption that has impoverished Malaysians without tackling the worst examples, which include the vast former state-owned businesses, lands and monopolies owned by the family of Taib Mahmud.” – May 12, 2018.