Sarawak BN leaders keeping mum over alleged bid to quit party

KUCHING: Sarawak Barisan Nasional leaders are keeping mum over reports that component parties may quit the coalition to form a locally-based alliance with the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government.

A senior PBB leader denied having any knowledge that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has met with Sarawak Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud to discuss a possible partnership.

“I have no idea of this meeting. I only knew about this from news reports. But if the meeting did take place, I’ll leave it to the decision of our top leadership.

“This sort of move needs the consensus of all Barisan parties,” said the PBB member.

The report quoted an unnamed PBB source as saying that the meeting, which took place in Kuala Lumpur, included former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.

The report said that Taib would summon Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg for an audience.

PBB, he said, had even cooked up a plan before GE14 to quit Barisan if the coalition falls to Pakatan.

The report mentioned that Abang Johari, who is state Barisan chairman, is expected to call for an emergency meeting next Wednesday with all Barisan MPs and state elected representatives to discuss on the potential coalition.

“I have not received any notification of Wednesday’s meeting,” added the state elected representative, who is a PBB supreme council member.

Sarawak Chief Minister’s Office has also kept mum on the matter at press time. Abang Johari would issue a statement through his office when addressing pressing issues.

A SUPP leader said the party was also not aware of the meeting or plans to leave Barisan coalition.

He said there has not been any talks of among Sarawak Barisan leaders on leaving the coalition.

Sarawak Barisan, comprising PBB, PRS, SUPP and PDP, has 19 out of 31 parliamentary seats after the just concluded GE14.

A twitter account by the handle @ datukhensem tweeted on Friday that: “There will be an interesting announcement by Sarawak BN. Maybe lah maybe.”

While the owner of the twitter account is not known, it is unclear if the person had made reference to the Mahathir-Taib alleged meet up.

The four component parties leaving Barisan could cause the coalition to have only 60 parliamentary seats nationwide while Pakatan and its allies, comprising Warisan, could have more than 140 seats. Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian, when announcing the party’s candidates before nomination day on April 28, said Pakatan would not field a candidate in Julau to make way to Independent Larry Sng, who succeeded in wresting the parliamentary seat from Barisan.

Baru added that Sng has agreed to sign an agreement to join Pakatan if he wins Julau.