PBS: Chinese should support, work with govt

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Dr Yee (third, left) presenting a souvenir to Louis as Oliver (left), Joseph (second left), Goon (fourth right) and other leaders looks on.

KOTA KINABALU (Feb 27): The Chinese community in Sabah should start to think of the need to be part of the government to help develop the state together.

It is time to change the mindset of using the election to vent their anger and to punish candidates they disliked and throw their support to peninsula-based party, said Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Supreme Council member Datuk Louis Rampas.

“The Chinese community in Sabah should follow their fellow Sarawakians who chose to support and work with the government,” he said when officiating the joint annual general meeting of PBS Api-Api, Likas and Luyang Divisions at Wisma Hakka here yesterday.

He said the Sarawak state election held in December last year showed the Chinese voters backing the local-based parties which saw peninsula-based DAP only winning two seats.

And lately the Premier of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, said the Chinese in Sarawak will be given a role to run the government together, he said.

“The Chinese community are now beginning to feel the benefits of being in the government,” he said.

In Sabah, he said the Chinese community should unite and start to think of how to be a decision maker in the government, and not to rely on DAP where their influence has now beginning to wane in Sarawak.

Furthermore, he said when DAP was part of the then Pakatan Harapan government, its Secretary-General, Lim Guan Eng did not discuss with Sabah to realise the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) which they promised during the 15th General Election.

“As far as I can remember, he (Lim) only came during the Sandakan parliamentary by-election, besides that he never came to Sabah when he was in the government,” he said.

Unlike PBS which is a multiracial party, he said they have been consistent in struggling for Sabah rights as enshrined in MA63 through its president, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili who is the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Sabah and Sarawak Affairs.

PBS deputy president and Api-Api Division chief Datuk Seri Dr Yee Moh Chai said PBS had always been staying true to its struggles for the people and the state since the beginning.

He said PBS had subscribed to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) platform similar to Gabungan Sarawak Parti (GSP) system which stood for the rights of the people and the state.

PBS Likas Division chief Dr Joseph Lee said among others, PBS through its president had also played a part in a discussion with the Federal Government to increase the state annual grants to five-fold after waiting for five decades.

PBS Luyang Division chief Goon Thien Shang said amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, they are still helping the people to register for the Peka B40, initiated by the government to provide free health screening for non-communicable diseases.

“We will continue to help the needy, especially in the distribution of food baskets,” said, adding they will be working together with Api-Api Community Development Leader Oliver Majaham to identify the needy.