GABUNGAN Parti Sarawak (GPS) should be a single multiracial party so as to shed its former Barisan Nasional image, said Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing.

He said GPS’ four components should disband and form a single party to complete its “metamorphosis” and distance itself from the BN model of race-based parties.

He said he conveyed this in a memo to Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg yesterday, following the four parties’ exit from BN. The parties are Abang Johari’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and PRS.

The move saw BN losing 19 federal seats, leaving it with just 60 out of the total of 222, further weakening the coalition that had ruled the country for more than six decades.

Masing, who is also deputy chief minister, said the May 9 polls showed that Malaysians rejected community-based parties.

As such, the GPS components should review their structure to stay relevant when the state elections are held in 2021.

PRS, the second-largest party in GPS, is Dayak-based, while PBB, the coalition lynchpin, is for Sarawak Bumiputeras, including Malays and the Melanau. Only SUPP and PDP are multiracial.

In his memo dated June 11, Masing said “it would be a big mistake if we do not evolve and move forward, especially in the ways and manners we administer Sarawak”, even though the results of the general election and 2016 state elections showed that the “majority of Sarawakians are still with us”.

“GE14 is a wake-up call for Sarawak BN to relook (itself) and really evolve and improve in meaningful ways. If not, we will be accused of changing the name of the soup without changing the herbs used.”

Abang Johari has not responded to Masing’s memo.

In the memo, Masing also called for the restructuring of the civil service “to reflect the social fabric of Sarawak”.

Other suggestions were for the state government to allocate an annual budget for the Unit for Other Religions, or Unifor, “so that Sarawakians of diverse religious beliefs can continue to practise their religions without feeling they are neglected”, and to not procrastinate on land reforms. – June 13, 2018.