KUCHING, March 5 — Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen claimed today that the party’s uncompromising and principled stand is the main reason why some political parties would rather work with Islamist party PAS in forming the federal government.

He asserted that they know that so long as DAP was in government, it would always be a hindrance for corrupt practices and cronyism to flourish.

"In the past 20 months of government, we had adhered to the strict principle of clean and good governance.

"This was especially evident in the administration of the Ministry of Finance helmed by Lim Guan Eng who had dutifully acted as the gatekeeper and carefully guarded our people’s money,” Chong, who is also Stampin MP, said in a statement.

"That is also the reason why we see a lot of mega projects being slashed from its initial estimated costings to much reduced amounts,” he said, citing as examples the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) project cost reduced from RM65.5 billion to RM44 billion and the MRT2 project cost reduced from RM39.35 billion to RM30.53 billion.

He also cited the LRT3 project cost which was reduced from RM31.65 billion to RM16.63 billion and the Pan Borneo Highway project cost reduced from RM21.9 billion to RM18.8 billion.

"We also see an 18 per cent reduction of the PLUS highway toll rate without any future increment compared to the original PLUS toll concession contract which gave the rights to the concessionaire to 5 per cent increment in toll rate every three years.

Chong also alleged that there are a few ex-leaders in Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition parties who had wanted the concession to be transferred to their cronies, but it was strongly opposed by DAP ministers.

He said the Employees Provident Fund and Khazanah Nasional Berhad had managed to retain the concession.

"The bottom line is because of DAP ministers’ insistence, road users get lower toll rates, and any future profits from the concession will ultimately benefit EPF contributors and government coffers through Khazanah,” he added.

Chong claimed that due to its stand on these issues, the party antagonised many of those intent on abusing their ministerial positions for their personal or cronies’ gain and deterred such individuals from being in government with DAP.

He asserted that the party has emerged as one of the most principled political parties in the saga of the backdoor government.

"All our 42 members of Parliament stood together defending the fundamental principles of Pakatan Harapan to ensure that the government elected by the people in 2018 would continue to work towards fulfilling the coalition’s manifesto until the end of the term.

"We may have lost the government, but we did not lose our integrity and principles.

"We will continue our political struggle towards a cleaner and better government for Sarawak and Malaysia,” he said.