KUCHING: The ongoing bickering among state Barisan Nasional (BN) components must be put to a stop so as not to create a loophole for the possible entry of Umno to Sarawak.
In giving this advice, veteran Sabah politician Datuk Jeffery Kitingan said leaders in Sarawak should have learned a lesson from what had happened to Sabahans, a mistake which they must not repeat.
“Every time I visit Sarawak I will tell the people that they should never allow Umno to come in and be like Sabah. I salute Sarawak politicians for they have been very united and able to resolve any form of crisis among themselves.
“So my hope is that they will be steadfast with their stance not to allow Umno to spread its wings to Sarawak. But if the ongoing crisis involving BN component parties remain unresolved, Umno will use it as an excuse to come in and this is what Sarawak politicians have to avoid,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Jeffery, who is State Reform Party (STAR) Sabah chapter chairman, said he had been following the political situation in Sarawak closely and was worried that the current scenario if not immediately resolved could lead to a more disastrous ending.
“Nevertheless I have high confidence in Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri (Datuk Amar) Adenan Satem that he will do something to end the political crisis in the state soon,” he added.
He was referring to the bickering between some Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) leaders which started when the former was excluded from the ‘merger of minds’ pact initiated by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and PRS which created some uneasiness among PBB leaders.
Through the ‘merger of minds’ initiative leaders of SUPP, SPDP and PRS made their stand clear that they would not give away any of the state seats which were traditionally theirs to the incumbents who had left their parties for Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras).
The conflict started when four SUPP assemblymen quit the party and joined Teras together with former SPDP president Tan Sri William Mawan and members of the group of four (G4).
According to them, they left their respective parties to stop the endless internal bickering in SUPP and SPDP but that however did not go well with the two parties, including PRS as they fear that Teras will take away the seats from them.
Of the 71 seats in the state, 35 were allocated to PBB, 19 to SUPP, nine to PRS and SPDP had eight.
However, after the 2011 state elections and also following the latest political development in the state, SUPP is now left with only two seats (Simanggang and Senadin) while SPDP has none although the party won six of its seats in the last state polls.
The first to quit the party was Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat, followed by Datuk Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru), Datuk Sylvester Entrie Muran (Marudi), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu), Paulus Palu Gumbang (Batu Danau) and the latest was Mawan (Pakan).
SUPP on the other hand only managed to win six of the 19 seats it contested but when four of its elected representatives quit the party to join Teras on May 15, the party was left with only Datuk Francis Harden Hollis (Simanggang) and Datuk Lee Kim Shin (Senadin).
PBB defended all 35 seats while PRS lost one out of its nine seats to George Lagong who has also joined Teras.
According to Jeffery, the current political situation in Sarawak was becoming more and more complex and if not tackled early could cause greater problems and by then the entry of Umno may be unpreventable.
“This is what I am worried about. I am not trying to tell Sarawak politicians what to do but I just want to remind them against creating the loophole for Umno to come in.”