KUCHING: The political moves by Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) led by Julau MP Larry Sng cannot be taken seriously as the party is totally unknown, has no political machinery nor brand name.
Political analyst, James Chin who is Professor of Asian Studies at University of Tasmania told the New Sarawak Tribune that Sng’s statement was not surprising.
“He is a prominent figure in Sarawak and he was also a protege of TYT Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud. He has always wanted to be given a full ministership and that’s why he just jumped from one party to another.
“His biggest problem is that he is not known in Sabah or in Malaya and PBM is totally unknown and with no brand name as well as without a political machinery so people will not take his party seriously,” said Chin.
He was commenting on Sng’s statement that PBM was supporting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government and the ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ (Malaysian Family) concept.
Chin also said that another reason Sng should not be taken seriously was because of rumours that he was holding PBM for federal politicians Azmin Ali and Zuraida “who are part of the same gang looking for a new political platform.”
“So I suspect Ismail Sabri will also not take PBM seriously. What should be taken seriously is that we are seeing a really interesting phenomenon now and this phenomenon is that political personalities are now projecting themselves towards Malaya. This has not happened before, ” said Chin.
He cited Parti Warisan moving to Semenanjung Malaysia from Sabah.
“Now, Larry is doing the same thing with PBM trying to project PBM as Malaya-based.
“This will be quite interesting because this comes on top of the GE15 so everyone seems to be chasing after the votes of the young voters including political parties from Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
“By the way, I think the Keluarga Malaysia tagline is a joke. I mean, even before Keluarga Malaysia, Ismail Sabri has always claimed that he is a Malay champion so I think most people are looking at the Keluarga Malaysia as a joke and that it should be known as Keluarga Melayu Malaysia instead,” Chin commented.
Another political analyst, Senior Fellow from a university in Singapore Oh Eh Soon said the fragmented political landscape in Malaysia implied that any politician or party which could garner a handful or even a few MPs come next general election would be in a position to gain a seat at the table to negotiate and form the next ruling coalition.
“As these PBM senior leaders are mostly political orphans or at best adopted political children, it is somewhat natural that they would come together, so that they could have a common platform to, for example, contest again and hopefully have higher chances in winning in their incumbent constituencies, in anticipation of the forthcoming general election,” he opined.
