Final decision after political wrangling settled, says GPS leader


GABUNGAN Parti Sarawak (GPS) will wait for the political wrangling to be resolved before making a final decision on which coalition to back, Tiong King Sing said.

The president of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) said it is important to see who the government of the day will be.

“They have to find their own way to resolve it. Why do we want to get involved? Of course, for GPS, we will discuss among ourselves and Premier Abang Johari Openg, and we will make a final decision,” he told reporters at the Sarawak legislative assembly building today.

PDP is one of four component parties in GPS. 

Others are GPS lynchpin Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, Sarawak United Peoples’ Party and Parti Rakyat Sarawak.

The bloc has 22 lawmakers in the 222-seat parliament.

Tiong noted at this point, it was unclear who had the numbers to be prime minister or form the next government.

He said if Barisan Nasional (BN) does not work with Perikatan Nasional (PN), the coalition will not be able to form the government even if GPS roots for it.

His statement comes as Pakatan Harapan (PH) and BN had met this morning about forming a unity government.

BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had asked the palace for more time for the BN Supreme Council to discuss with its lawmakers, and the palace had granted all parties until 2pm tomorrow to submit their coalition choice and candidate for prime minister.

Yesterday, GPS chairman Abang Johari said the coalition was backing Muhyiddin Yassin for the position of prime minister, adding that it was forming a coalition with PN, BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).

He said the coalition wanted a federal government that would be strong and stable to face the coming economic challenges and at the same time, ensure the well-being of the people, including their religious freedom.

“Our choice for prime minister is Muhyiddin Yassin,” he told a press conference in Kuching yesterday.

The combined strength of the coalitions is 131 seats in parliament.

However, soon after the GPS endorsement, Muhyiddin declared that he was confident that he would garner enough support among the members of parliament, which would pave the way for the king to appoint him as the country’s 10th prime minister.

He said GRS chairman Hajiji Noor had also announced the Sabah-based coalition would back PN and give him its support to be prime minister.

Muhyiddin said several other lawmakers purportedly from BN had also given him the same commitment.

However, in his statement, he did not mention BN, which GPS had earlier said was putting together a coalition to form the federal government.

Without BN, a combination of PN, GPS and GRS would only have 101 seats in parliament – 11 seats short of a simple majority.

BN counts 30 lawmakers among its ranks.

Zahid said BN had not entered into a pact with any party to form the federal government. – November 21, 2022.


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