SARAWAK Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg became the first Barisan Nasional state leader to visit Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad when the two met in Putrajaya this afternoon.

Sources said the two leaders met at the prime minister’s office around 3pm.

“It was a courtesy call by the chief minister,” said a source.

While it cannot be confirmed what transpired during the meeting, the relationship between PBB and Pakatan Harapan has warmed up since GE14.

Last Thursday, Abang Johari thanked PKR adviser Anwar Ibrahim for promising to restore Sarawak’s rights under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.

Although Abang Johari has stressed that Sarawak BN will not join PH, he has yet to respond to calls within his party to leave BN.

After the elections, Abang Johari attributed Sarawak BN’s loss of six federal seats to national issues. 

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah told the dayakdaily.com that there was a high likelihood that the Sarawak government will leave BN to form its own coalition.

He told the portal that Sarawak folk no longer accepted the BN brand.

“Sarawak BN is different from federal BN. Apart from the federal BN manifesto, Sarawak has its own,” Karim was quoted as saying.

He said the Sarawak government can continue to function with four parties – PBB, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).

“Personally, I see BN as technically dead already. BN used to have 13 parties but if there are only two parties (Umno and PBB) that play prominent roles, I don’t consider that BN any more.

“We need to have a reload since BN is not really well accepted as Sarawakian parties were accepted in the last state elections,” he added.

In the last state elections in 2016, Sarawak BN won 72 out of 82 seats. And in the recent GE14, Sarawak BN won 19 out of 31 seats.

Since the May 9 elections 9, three parties – Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) and Liberal Democratic Party – announced that they would leave BN. PBRS and Upko have one federal seat each.

If the Sarawak parties leave BN, the coalition will be left with 58 federal seats – Umno (54), MCA (1), MIC (2) and Parti Bersatu Sabah (1). – May 31, 2018.