KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) has been urged to make the appropriate consideration with regard to the formation of Borneo Alliance that involves opposition parties in Sarawak and Sabah.
Recenty, PSB president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh said the matter was also a preparation to face the 15th General Election (GE15), which is likely to be held earlier based on the current scenario in Putrajaya.
He said PSB was also in talks with like-minded opposition parties in Sarawak and Sabah to form the alliance.
In this regard, political analyst Professor Datuk Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman said the formation of Borneo Alliance was not a problem in the political arena because PSB could face difficulties if they move on their own later.
“Because of that also, they need the alliance to form the strength of a political party based in Borneo.
“However, from the parliamentary point of view in the state, the momentum of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is still strong but in Sabah, the establishment of the alliance may have a big impact,” he told Suara Sarawak on Monday (March 28).
“I’m not saying it’s impossible but the situation will be more challenging in Sarawak because of the strength of GPS, but the situation is different in Sabah.
“Therefore, the PSB president needs to give due attention and consideration to several issues, including the seat fight, tolerance between the alliance itself as such things can also cause problems later.
“We also see in the last state election (PRN), this effort was also done by PSB but failed due to the fight for seats, so even though it is mentioned as an alliance, they also cannot prevent such issues from happening and what alliances formed early will find a dead end? This question needs to be seen by PSB in managing Borneo Alliance in the future.”
In a related matter, Prof Mohd Fadzil stated that PSB also needed to consider the issue of a common logo – whether to use one logo or the logo of each party during GE15.
“If they use their respective logos, it does not symbolise an alliance, and if they use an alliance, it is likely that there will be an issue of people not really knowing the logo.
“Therefore, this formation is not a new thing not only by forming an alliance but also to look more at strategy and tolerance between the parties, especially the issue of seat distribution.”
He also advised PSB to look at the issue that occurred between Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) during the previous PRN where the issue of seat distribution also arose even though they were under the same alliance.
