KUCHING: Sri Aman MP Datuk Masir Kujat quitting Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is not a big surprise and widely expected, said political analyst Prof Dr James Chin.
“The way it works in Sarawak and Sabah is that most people want to be on the government side in order to enjoy benefits.
“In this case, obviously, Masir is after the constituency funding as being in the opposition, they do receive that funding from the state government,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted on Wednesday.
The Professor of Asian Studies at University of Tasmania was prompted for comments on Masir’s decision to quit PSB with immediate effected on Mar 30.
When asked what’s next for Masir, Chin said that the latter is heading to one of the component parties in the ruling state party – Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
On the reasons why people were leaving PSB, Chin said that it was often that people would go to the winners.
“PSB underperformed in the 12th State Election as initially people thought that they were able to win more than 10 seats.
“And people are thinking that maybe that the party will do even worse in the upcoming general election.
“So, they think it is better to move elsewhere to a party that can perform better,” he said.
Chin said that he expected to see more people leaving PSB, just as he expected more to leave Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) or the other political parties that did badly in the last state election.
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