KUCHING: It will be an uphill battle for Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Parti Warisan Sabah in the 15th General Election (GE15) even if the two parties manage to work together and form the Bornean Alliance (Perikatan Borneo), opines Prof Dr James Chin.
The political analyst from the Asia Institute, University of Tasmania, Australia said the plan would be doable, however, it would not do much in helping the two parties to win more support in their respective states.
“This is because PSB does not have ground support in Sabah while Warisan is unknown in Sarawak,” he said when contacted today.
Thus, he said, the Borneo Alliance or Warisan could not really help PSB in Sarawak whereas PSB could not do much in Sabah as well.
Chin was asked to comment on PSB and Warisan’s plan to form the Bornean Alliance in facing GE15.
Apart from that, he said, the alliance is expected to face various challenges in Sarawak as the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) had the momentum after its landslide victory in the 12th Sarawak state election in December last year.
He said Warisan is also facing a lot of trouble now as many of their members have quit to join other parties or set up their own parties in the past two years.
“They have many internal problems and hence, they may not perform well in Sabah,” he said.
He said the Bornean Alliance was not Warisan’s first strategic alliance as the party had also formed an alliance with Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) for GE15 as well.
“It looks like Warisan is going around Malaysia trying to create a new coalition as an alternative to Pakatan Harapan (PH),” he said.
Chin also opined that the key aspect of the Bornean Alliance’s formation was the symbolic importance of two Borneo nationalist parties getting together to challenge the incumbent government.
“PSB seems to be the Sarawak nationalist party while Warisan is the Sabah nationalist party, thus, it makes sense for the two opposition parties (at the state level) to form a Pan-Borneo opposition alliance to try to beat the incumbent government,” he said.
“This is a natural progression which made sense for both parties, however, it is still going to be an uphill battle when it comes to winning more seats in GE15,” he added.
