KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) cannot accept the political arrogance and dismissive attitude of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) towards the people of Sarawak.
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing said it was because of former Finance Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s attitude and lack of respect towards the financial ability of GPS leaders that the coalition had decided to declare its support to any party in Malaysia except DAP.
“During (Lim’s) ministerial visit to Sarawak as finance minister, (he) insulted this country of ours by declaring that in three years’ time, our state will go bankrupt.
“Why? (Because) our expenditure of RM10 billion yearly budget would exhaust our RM31 billion reserve within three years. In Lim’s cash flow estimate, we will be running out of money in three years’ time.
“It sounded right: RM10 billion times three years equals to RM30 billion. However, Lim did not take into account that Sarawak does have a yearly revenue,” he said during PRS’ 16th anniversary dinner on Wednesday.
Masing said this was also the reason behind GPS’ decision to declare support towards Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in the tussle for former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s replacement between Muhyiddin and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“Our choice was based on two very important principles. The first principle was that GPS wanted a government of Malaysia to be created as soon as possible. Tan Sri Muhyiddin, in GPS’ opinion then, had the ability to command the majority of the MPs in the Dewan Rakyat, thus was in a better position to form the government.
“Luckily, we did what we did, because immediately after Muhyiddin was sworn in as the prime minister, Covid-19 attacked us.
“The second principle was, and still is, is that Anwar was supported by DAP. DAP is seen as an undependable partner in the political coalition for Sarawak.”
