UNLESS there is fundamental restructuring of the Sarawak government, the decision by its ruling state components to leave Barisan Nasional (BN) is merely superficial, said the state DAP.

Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen said no matter what the the former BN parties now called themselves, they were still the “same old component parties of Sarawak BN, practicing the same old BN policies”.

“Unless there is a clear change of policies by the state government, otherwise, mere change of name from Sarawak BN to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is meaningless,” the Stampin MP said in a reaction to news of four Sarawak BN parties leaving the coalition.

Chong’s statement was echoed by Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii, who called the decision a “superficial change of facade or a change of new clothes, but still with the same inner rot”.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg announced today that Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) have left BN.

The move by GPS will shave 19 parliamentary seats from the 79 that BN won on May 9, further weakening the coalition that had ruled the country for six decades.

Pakatan Harapan controls the remaining 12 parliamentary seats in Sarawak.  

Chong said a month ago before GE14, these parties had been “singing praises” of then BN chairman and prime minister Najib Razak, and of the coalition.

Yii said if Sarawak’s leaders were principled, and wanted to distance themselves from corruption scandals, they should have left BN before the election and not when BN had lost.

“Would they have done the same if (former prime minister) Najib Razak and BN won the election? This clearly shows it is purely for self-interest and political survival, rather than actually for the people of Sarawak.”

Yii said voters’ rejection of BN in the May 9 election was “not due to the name, but due to the corrupt acts and abuse of power by the people inside.”

“Fact is, it is the people in these local parties that are directly involved in the theft of our state’s riches and revenues, including the stealing of our land and timber resources,” he said. – June 12, 2018.