Chong casts doubt on PSB’s intention to form next S’wak govt
KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen has questioned if Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is being serious about forming the next state government when it does not even have a Chief Ministerdesignate ready.
Reacting to PSB president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh’s criticism of his party, Chong drew comparisons with Pakatan Harapan’s successful outing in the 2018 general election where it had a prime minister-designate ready to lead the government.
“No political party wishes only to be the opposition party forever, but as a political party, one has to understand the reality and the surrounding circumstances in which it operates,” the Kota Sentosa incumbent said in a statement.
On Sunday, Wong said his party and DAP Sarawak both disagreed with Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) way of governing Sarawak but they did not share the same goal.
“We may be similar but we are not the same. We both disagree with GPS’ way of governing Sarawak. DAP believes in being a strong opposition party. PSB believes in replacing GPS as the government,” he said.
He also said Chong appeared to be satisfied with DAP just being an opposition party and he assured PSB supporters that the party did not seek to remain an opposition party nor join GPS but instead to replace it altogether.
In his statement, Chong said that if one were to compare the current situation in Sarawak with the national level where they managed to change the government in 2018, there were two important factors lacking for the opposition to take over
No political party wishes only to be the opposition party forever, but as a political party, one has to understand the reality and the surrounding circumstances in which it operates.
Chong Chieng Jen
the state administration in the polls on Dec 18.
He said firstly that before the PH won the election in 2018, the Opposition had in two consecutive general elections denied the Barisan Nasional (BN) its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
In the case of Sarawak, he said the opposition merely won 10 out of 82 state seats in 2016 and even Wong had won his seat of Bawang Assan under the BN ticket.
“Secondly they can’t even come up with a Chief Ministerdesignate acceptable to its own party, what more to say the other opposition parties,” Chong said.
He added that the coming polls would be carried out under restrictive election campaign standard operating procedures which work against the opposition, while the government could carry on with their campaigns under the guise of government programmes.
Therefore, even if PSB were to be able to work with all opposition parties, Chong felt that it would still be an uphill battle to defeat GPS, what more when PSB was going into the elections fighting both the GPS and other opposition parties.
“As a veteran politician, Wong Soon Koh should know this. Yet, in the course of negotiation, when the PSB starts insisting to contest against DAP in seats like Kota Sentosa, Pujut, Meradong and Batu Kitang, PSB appears more like wanting to be a spoiler than winning the elections and form the government,” said Chong.
As such, he questioned the true agenda of PSB, whether it was genuine in wanting to bring about change in Sarawak or just wanting to win a few seats and then return to GPS to be part of the government.
“In this Sarawak election, we (DAP) are setting our goal at denying the GPS its two-thirds majority to provide a stronger check and balance in the DUN (State Legislative Assembly) and also pave the way for a change of government in the next election.
“As for PSB, with Wong’s statement, it is now clear that they only want to be the government,” said Chong.
He also said that if PSB does not have the numbers to form the government, there was likelihood of hopping, switching camps and joining GPS.