Meeting with Muhyiddin on GPS registration positive — Nanta
KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) secretary-general Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi describes the meeting between the coalition’s leaders and Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday as positive, as Muhyiddin was aware of GPS’ application to become a coalition party.
“It was positive in a way when the Home Minister said he was aware of our application but the process takes time,” he said.
Nanta said the meeting was more of a courtesy call on Muhyiddin rather than anything else because the Home Minister was unwell.
Led by deputy president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, the coalition wished Muhyiddin well, he said yesterday.
“It was just a courtesy call on YB Tan Sri Muhyddin. The Home Minister has not been to the office regularly. There were no hitches, no queries and no direction.”
Nanta, the Kapit MP, said GPS applied to the Registrar of Societies ( RoS) to become a coalition of political parties in July this year.
He added that the process might take three to six months or even more depending on the nature of queries on applicants and also the number of applications RoS has to process.
He denied that the probe into Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP), a component of GPS, by the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) had affected GPS’ application to ROS.
NantasaidSUPPwasrepresented by its secretary- general Datuk Sebastian Ting, Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP) by its deputy president Datuk Nelson Balang Rining and Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS) by its secretarygeneral Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum at the meeting.
Nanta said PBB — the GPS backbone party — was represented by Uggah and himself, adding that Uggah would have to brief GPS chairman, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
GPS was set up after its component parties left Barisan Nasional ( BN) Sarawak following BN’s failure to return to power at federal level, after it was defeated by Pakatan Harapan ( PH) in the May 9 general election.
GPS was formed so that the four components PBB, SUPP, PDP and PRS could work closely with the PH coalition in administering Sarawak.
On top of the list of GPS agenda is its struggle to effect devolution of power from the federal to state government following the realisation that most of Sarawak’s rights under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63) had been eroded over the years, or ever since BN ruled Malaysia for more than 50 years.