Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
– Ernest Benn, British publisher, writer and political publicist
Wind of change. That is the motto used by leaders and mouthpieces of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) when campaigning during the last Sarawak state election in 2021.
With confidence at an all-time high, they contested in 70 out of the 82 seats in the Sarawak legislature.
Talks by party members at the time was that they aim to win 10 to 15 seats. At the time, they held as many as six state constituencies – Bawang Assan, Ba’kelalan, Engkilili, Batu Lintang, Dudong and Opar.
In the end, they had to settle for only four of their seats, losing Dudong and Opar. The former went to Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and the latter was won by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) – both components of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
The buzz surrounding PSB, which was a splinter of SUPP, came about when it took defectors from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) who are big names in Sarawak politics – former Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian and Sarawak PKR vice-chairman See Chee How.
This was in the aftermath of the political upheaval at the federal level dubbed the Sheraton Move in 2020 when a faction from PKR left the party as well as the exit by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) from Pakatan Harapan (PH) led to the collapse of the federal government.
Three Sarawak PKR MPs – Baru, Saratok MP Datuk Ali Biju and Puncak Borneo MP Datuk Willie Mongin – were among the eleven defectors led by former PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, dubbed by the media as Azmin’s Eleven.
What transpired was that Baru had a change of heart at the eleventh hour and pledged his support to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government which then was headed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
When PH was eventually outnumbered and therefore collapsed, Baru was left to seeking pastures new with Chee How. Then the duo along with a large faction of Sarawak PKR leaders joined PSB.
That was during the period of movement control order (MCO) in the nation, I remember because I was at the PSB headquarters to report on what transpired. It gave a significant boost to PSB’s credentials to being a fearful opposition in Sarawak.
After the reeling defeat in the Sarawak state polls, it was like crashing back to earth for the party and soon the defections happened.
In the recent 15th general election (GE15), PSB contested in seven seats which is a more scaled-back approach. It also did so in collaboration with two other local parties – Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) and Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK).
All three returned empty handed with GPS taking a lion’s share of the total 31 parliamentary seats, winning 23 while six seats went to PH while two others went to PPBM in Saratok and Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) in Julau.
After back-to-back election defeats, it is stunning to hear that PSB is returning to GPS’ fold via a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate with GPS component, PDP.
The historic collaboration was made official in Kuala Lumpur this Thursday with PDP president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing visibly embracing PSB president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh.
According to Tiong, the collaboration was in the pipelines for more than a year. He also did not discount the possibility of both becoming one party in the future saying it is a “step by step process”.
In the end, it not only boosted PSB in terms of its relevancy but also PDP, with a wave of support coming in a package deal for PDP as well as GPS as a whole.
Meanwhile for PSB, party president Wong said the party supports the policies and approaches of the GPS government led by Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He described those as “people first” as well as commending the Sarawak government’s farsighted initiatives and programmes to develop the state.
It has to be said, the talk of PSB re-joining GPS since leaving the coalition in 2019 was not a well-kept secret. While attacks were levelled against one another in the past, it is now water under the bridge. We have come full circle.
Definitely while politicking is at an all-time high in Malaya during the state election campaigns, political realignments such as this will give those folk something to think about.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
