SARAWAK Pakatan Harapan (PH) chief and state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen said the pact has not discussed the choice of chief minister if it wins the state election in 2021.

He said this in denying news reports that he would be the chief minister if PH wins the state polls.

“Both Sarawak PH and the national coalition have never discussed the candidate for Sarawak chief minister.

“This is another of the fake news created in an attempt to cause discord and unnecessary argument amongst PH component parties,” Chong said of the news that first appeared in the Malay language site of Malaysiakini and then picked up by Sarawak-based portal Sarawakvoice.

Malaysiakini two days ago quoted Kedah Bersatu’s deputy chairman Anuar Abdul Hamid as saying there was an agreement among PH components parties that Bersatu will head the administration in Kedah, Perlis, Perak and Johor if they win in those states in the May 9 general election, and PKR will head those in Selangor, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan, while DAP was given Penang, the federal territories and Sarawak.

Amanah had been given Kelantan, Terengganu and Malacca, he was reported as saying.

Anuar was also reported as saying the agreement on the division of the states had been in place before the general election.

In thrashing the reports, Chong said the PH leaders were focusing on the administration of the country to “save the country from the wreckage by the previous BN government”.

“As for Sarawak, the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak is the main culprit as to why many parts of Sarawak is still so backwards in terms of development,” said the Stampin MP, who is also the federal deputy minister of domestic trade, co-operatives and consumerism.

GPS consists of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), all former component parties of Barisan Nasional in Sarawak. – August 29, 2018.