TWO senior Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition leaders have dismissed Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin’s invite yesterday that GPS be part of a proposed grand coalition with Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN).

Hamzah had suggested the coalition be formed ahead of the 15th general election to strengthen the government of the day’s grip on power.

But Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing said there is no necessity for GPS to be a formal member of any “grand coalition”, as Hamzah had called it.

The four parties in GPS are Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and PRS.

Masing’s position is consistent with GPS’ current stand that it will not go back to any BN-style political alliance so that Sarawak is free from decisions and policies dominated by peninsula-based parties.

Masing said GPS would not be against Hamzah’s proposed alliance “if they (Bersatu and Umno) feel that a formal charter is good for Malaysia’s political stability”.

This would mean that there must be “an iron-clad understanding” between GPS and the other parties, that all of them must support each other in any election, including state elections.

“In short, PN and aspirants cannot contest in the (forthcoming Sarawak elections) and vice versa, Sarawak (parties) in any seat in Peninsular Malaysia.”

Similarly, PBB vice-president Abdul Karim Hamzah agreed that it is unnecessary for GPS to be a formal member of any proposed alliance.

Karim, who is also the state’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports said the status quo of the current arrangement where GPS supports the PN federal government was sufficient.

“Let the status quo remain,” he said.

Hamzah, who is also home minister, said in a statement yesterday that his proposal was to ensure continuity of the current political consensus.

PN’s lead party, Bersatu, of which Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is president, on its own has only 31 seats in Parliament and cannot form the government by itself.

Umno has also scoffed at Hamzah’s idea for a grand coalition, with Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin saying that it was just Bersatu’s strategy to leech off the strength of the other parties. – December 12, 2020.