SEVENTEEN Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) lawmakers met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Zoom today after they were unable to reach Kuala Lumpur in time to keep their appointment at the Istana Negara.

They had been summoned to the palace to verify who they support to become the next prime minister, following Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation on Monday.

The GPS lawmakers, minus Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing who is in Kuala Lumpur, gathered at The Waterfront Hotel in Kuching for their virtual audience with the king.

They were joined by independent MP for Lubok Antu, Jugah Muyang.

Petra Jaya MP and GPS chief whip Fadillah Yusof said they were called individually by the Agong to verify the statutory declarations they had submitted and whether they had made their choice of the next prime minister voluntarily,

“To authenticate and verify that the decision we made was voluntary. That’s what (we were called to do) just now,” Fadillah said.

Fadillah said Tiong will go to Istana Negara as ordered.

The GPS MPs were in Kuching for a meeting yesterday with Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg to discuss who had their votes.

Fadillah was tight-lipped about who the coalition was backing, saying he would leave it to the Agong to make the announcement.

Santubong MP Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar was more forthcoming, however.

“I support Sabri Ismail,” he said of the Umno vice-president.

“I don’t know about the rest (as) I am not privy to their SDs (statutory declarations).”

Wan Junaidi, who was the entrepreneur development and co-operatives minister with the collapsed Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, said he had known Ismail for a long time and that he “has the ability and credibility” to discharge his duties if picked to be the prime minister.

Wan Junaidi said Ismail was also “clean” and “very sensitive” to Sarawak’s needs.

He defended Ismail against claims he was a race extremist.

“I have not seen or heard him showing extremist tendencies,” Wan Junaidi said.

The Santubong MP said Ismail was a lawyer by training and that lawyers rarely tended towards extremism. – August 19, 2021.