‘Sabah, S’wak parties cannot be left out of federal govt’
KUCHING: Parties from Sabah and Sarawak cannot be le out in the coalition to form the federal government, said caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said while it was too early to share his views on whether Barisan Nasional (BN) would join forces with any coalition if it did not get enough seats a er the 15th general election (GE15), BN must have parties from the two Borneo states.
“Whatever the outcome, the coalition must be decided by the party. Individuals do not have the right to decide with whom we want to join forces with a er the election.
“For sure we will invite Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), and we are also ready to cooperate and will invite Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and BN from Sabah, because for me no ma er what we get, no ma er how many seats, even if we get 120, 130, we must have parties from Sabah and Sarawak.
“They cannot be le out in the coalition to form the federal government,” he said during the ‘Kestabilan & Kemakmuran Bersama YAB Perdana Menteri’ special talk show aired by Bernama last night.
On the strength that BN has that allows other parties, especially from Sabah and Sarawak to join it in forming a government, Ismail Sabri said BN is confident it can secure 112 out of the 178 seats it is contesting in.
“However, if that doesn’t happen, we have no choice but to form a coalition government. I believe that countries that are moving towards a developed country like ours rarely have one party in power. Usually there will be a coalition government.
“So we are also ready and if we cannot get 112 seats, then we form a coalition government,” he said.
Ismail Sabri noted that if they only have 40 seats and others 60, it would be impossible for BN to lead the coalition government.
“For that reason, we want to lead, because our target is to cross 112 seats and be able to form a government. Or not even 80 or 90 seats, we are more dominant than other parties.
“So if we invite them to join us, of course the prime minister will come from us (BN). If we get 30 seats and others get 80, then others will be the prime minister,” he said.