IT could be just growing pains, or it could it be a more serious fault line in Sarawak’s nascent Gabungan Parti Sarawak.

It has only been a week since its inception, but sharp words are already being exchanged between two senior parties of the coalition of four that pulled out of Barisan Nasional on June 12.

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, the linchpin of GPS,‎ is quarrelling with Parti Rakyat Sarawak over the coalition’s setup.‎

Reacting to PRS president James Masing’s comments, PBB vice-president Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has asked PRS to leave if it is unhappy with the proposed setup.

The other two parties in GPS are Sarawak United People’s Party and Progressive Democratic Party.

Masing had commented on how GPS should shape its direction to shed any semblance to its BN past.

Masing, who is also a deputy chief minister, said power should be equally shared among members, and that the coalition must be structured to ensure its relevance to the people, failing which GPS could suffer the same fate as BN at the state elections in 2021.

One of his most radical proposals called for the four parties to be merged into a single multiracial party.

Masing proposed this idea, a day before the last BN Supreme Council meeting on June 12,  in a memorandum to Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg that was vehemently opposed by PBB deputy president Awang Tengah at the meeting.

“I just wanted to suggest ways to establish GPS. Karim trus ngasuh pansut (‘immediately asked us to leave’ in Iban),” Masing said in a WhatsApp chat group today.‎

“He is too proud to listen to a suggestion! If this is what GPS going to look like, then smaller parties had better think twice!” Masing said, referring to the 45 seats PBB holds – more than half of Sarawak’s 82-seat legislative assembly.

PBB has 13 parliamentary seats.

PRS, the second largest party in GPS, has 11 seats in the state assembly, SUPP seven, and PDP four.

The formerly pro-BN party United People’s Party, a splinter party of SUPP that is a member of the state government, has five seats.

Wilfred Nissom, PRS’ information chief, said Karim’s attack was an attempt “to shut Masing up”.

“I believe GPS hasn’t been formally formed or registered. Masing was making suggestions on what GPS should look like when it is finally formed.

“Making suggestions is not dictating,” Nissom said of Karim’s claim that “Masing should not dictate” the structure and setup of GPS.

“Is PBB showing it’s like ‘I’m Number One already’?” the former political secretary to the chief minister said.

Nissom also said Masing’s remarks were “to draw PBB leaders to show their true colours”, an opinion shared by Dayak voter Phil Nicol.

“Looks like Karim and Awang Tengah took the bait lock, stock, and barrel. Thanks to their response, the public know PBB just wants to maintain dominance.

“A little criticism, and they tell you to leave, knowing they have 45 state assembly seats,” Nicol said.

“I think he is just testing the waters to see whether others from PBB’s Pesaka wing and the other parties join his chorus,” Nicol said.

The “Pesaka wing” refers to the party’s Dayak members.

The retired aeronautical engineer, however, did not believe the parties’ rebranding themselves would appease Sarawak’s voters, who rejected BN on May 9.

“As far as I’m concerned, the whole lot of ex-BN (leaders) are tainted. They will resort to the same old, same old of using political power as a means to accumulate wealth.

“Sarawak needs fresh blood.” – June 19, 2018.