SUPP wants GPS to be exclusive club like BN
KUCHING: United People’s Party (UPP) secretary general George Lo views the 10-point request or understanding by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) as nothing more than a wish list by SUPP.
Lo does not believe that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will revert to the old Barisan Nasional (BN) formula of an exclusive alliance just because of the request by SUPP.
“I say so because the 10 points raised by SUPP are only requests based on their delegates conference. Their requests are not subject to any ultimatum, for example, there’s no threat that they would refuse to join GPS if any one of the 10 points is rejected,” said Lo after analysing the SUPP 10point request SUPP discussed in its Annual Delegates Conference (ADC) on Sunday.
Lo however said now it would be up to the supreme council of GPS to decide on SUPP’s requests as and when GPS is formed.
Lo was commenting on a query if the SUPP 10-point requests (or understandings) means that the party harbour intention of going back to the old BN structure of an exclusive alliance and also what is UPP’s take on it.
UPP before the formation of GPS was just Sarawak BN-friendly party and UPP status is still not known with GPS formation.
UPP has two leaders in the Sarawak Cabinet and all of its elected representatives hold portfolios in the Sarawak administration.
Lo said he believed that the Registrar of Societies (RoS) has yet to approve GPS as a political party or coalition even though GPS has came up with its proposed logo created by a logo competitor in GPS-sanctioned logo design competition in July.
“I have not seen the Constitution of GPS submitted to RoS but I doubt that it would grant veto power to any single component,” said Lo.
“There is nothing to gain for GPS to adopt the BN formula because that would defeat the purpose of leaving BN to form a new alliance,” he pointed out.
“If GPS does not accede to SUPP requests, what will they do? I didn’t see that spelt out in their 10 points.”
On another query Lo said SUPP definitely is keen that GPS be kept exclusive to the four parties Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Progessive Democratic Party (PDP) and SUPP - only but whether SUPP is in the position to make such demand on exclusivity remains to be seen.
“But are they in the position to make such demands?” Lo asked.
SUPP on Sunday adopted a 10-point understanding for the formation of GPS.
The Borneo Post was informed of the 10-point understanding written in both English and Chinese by a reliable source on Monday.
Topping the list is ‘The Chief Minister shall be a nominee from any founding member party who commands the majority support in the Sarawak (State) Legislative Assembly (DUN)’.
The second point says that a nominee each (a current DUN member) from the remaining three founding member parties shall be appointed as one of the three deputy chief ministers, and the chief minister may at his absolute discretion appoint additional deputy chief minister.
It also says the four founding member parties of GPS shall be SUPP, PBB, PRS and PDP.
Currently, the Sarawak state cabinet has three deputy chief ministers – two from PBB and the other from PRS.
The third point asserts that all state and parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak shall be agreed upon and assigned to every founding member party, whereby each member party shall have full rights and powers in deciding and nominating own candidates for their state and parliamentary constituencies.