WAN Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said there is no let-up in attempts to fish for his support amid the current political imbroglio.

The Santubong MP said his handphone has been ringing non-stop since Sunday, with calls coming in from various people hoping to secure his backing.

“It’s a horse trade. Definitely. A lot of people called me. They called me when I was here,” the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leader told reporters in the coastal village of Telok Serabang in Sematan, 128km from Kuching, where he was making the rounds yesterday.

“They have been calling me since I was in Kuala Lumpur,” he said, referring to the trip he and other GPS lawmakers made with Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg to attend a meeting at a Petaling Jaya hotel.

He said he spoke to those who called him, but added that he remains non-committal.

The seven-term parliamentarian, along with the other 17 MPs from the ruling Sarawak coalition, have thrown their support behind interim prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to continue leading the government.

Wan Junaidi did not mention the names of the people trying to get his backing.

Those eyeing the prime minister’s post are PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, with the support of the remaining three parties of Pakatan Harapan, and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, who announced the party’s exit from the pact on Monday, shortly after Dr Mahathir quit the nation’s top job.

The opposition Barisan Nasional and PAS are calling for Parliament to be dissolved and a snap election held – a stance that Wan Junaidi supports.

He said it was wrong for Dr Mahathir to say Parliament would be summoned next week to find a leader with majority support to become prime minister, adding that the matter should be left to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to decide.

The longer the crisis persists, “the longer the period for horse-trading or the possibility of vote-buying to happen”, he said.

“Since no one has the majority within the context of Article 43 of the federal constitution, the ultimate answer is to dissolve Parliament.” – February 28, 2020.