KUCHING: Perikatan Nasional (PN) should learn from Umno and leave Sarawak politics to Sarawakian parties.
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu vice president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, in saying this, stressed that Sarawak did not need West Malaysian based parties which had headquarters and supreme councils in West Malaysia to disrupt the harmonious equilibrium in Sarawak.
He named the West Malaysian based parties as Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Bersatu, Umno, Amanah, PAS or any coalition of the parties.
“Umno understands this and that is why during the Barisan Nasional (BN) days, Umno left Sarawak politics to Sarawakian parties,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted yesterday.
“No doubt, being a democratic country, any legally registered party can set up branches and contest in any part of Malaysia.
“But for Sarawak, suffice for the GPS parties which represent all the multi ethnic and multi religious communities of Sarawak to look after Sarawak,” he said.
The Asajaya assemblyman was prompted for comments on PN Sarawak which announced the formation of its liaison body recently.
PN Sarawak chairman Senator Jaziri Alkaf stated that the party’s main focus was to assist the state government in jointly providing the best services to all Sarawakians.
Abdul Karim added he could not speak for the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). However, he was of the view that PN Sarawak should not disrupt the political tranquillity in Sarawak.
“I smell something fishy with the setting up of a so-called liaison body when the state election is just round the corner.
“As what late Tok Nan (former chief minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem) said, “Only Sarawakians and Sarawakian based parties know Sarawak better, not parties from Malaya.”
Abdul Karim added that Sarawak had so many local parties that it did not need parties from West Malaysia to join the fray.
