Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg
KUCHING: The ongoing spat between Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Sarawak National Party (SNAP) on seat allocation shows that PKR is arrogant and selfish, commented PBB deputy president Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said as an opposition coalition, PKR’s insistence that it contest in 52 seats showed the party’s true colour.
Abang Johari added that even PKR’s state chief Baru Bian was appointed by PKR’s central body in Kuala Lumpur which showed that the party did not even give the chance to Sarawakians to decide who should lead the party in the state.
“This goes to show that the party is arrogant and does not respect the people of Sarawak.
“And its wanting to contest in 52 seats in the coming state election also goes to show that the party is selfish as it leaves other Pakatan Rakyat members to fight for the 19 remaining seats,” Abang Johari told The Borneo Post at his office here yesterday.
Baru had said the party was eyeing 52 seats in case other PR members were not ready with their candidates.
To this Abang Johari reiterated that there was no consensus in PR and this also proved that the opposition was nowhere near the spirit of solid comradeship enjoyed by Barisan Nasional (BN) at both state and national levels.
“How can the people expect to trust that kind of partnership to work in Sarawak and to govern it fairly? As such the rakyat must know the fact and understand the current issues to have a clearer picture of the state’s political scenario and not be easily misled by the opposition.
“As for BN, we have been with the people all this while and we have proven we are capable to further develop the state. While we have a mammoth project like SCORE, PR has nothing concrete to further develop the state,” said Abang Johari, who is also Minister of Housing and Urban Development.
On Tuesday, SNAP threw a bombshell by disclosing that the party would contest in at least 40 seats, leaving only 31 seats up for grabs by its PR component parties if the opposition pact was serious in facing BN on one-to-one fights in all the 71 state seats.
SNAP president Edwin Dundang even revealed 16 names, who he said were the first batch from the list of 40 names of its potential candidates.
Meanwhile, the state election is believed to be gathering new momentum with the joint official visit of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to Serian this weekend.