KUCHING, Sept 1 ― Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) supreme council member Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar warned PAS not to go up against Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the coming state election if the Islamist party treasured the current amiable ties between them at the federal level.

He said the same applied to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) if it decides to contest in Sarawak.

"But there is nothing to stop them from putting candidates in the Sarawak election. We can't stop them," Wan Junaidi told reporters after attending the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation and UDA Holdings Berhad for the development of a piece of prime land here.

"But if they want to work together with us, I propose that they don't fight us.

"If they fight us, that means our cooperation with them at the federal level will definitely be affected," Wan Junaidi, who is also the federal minister of entrepreneur development and cooperative, said, without elaborating.

He told Bersatu not to nominate Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ali Biju to defend his Krian state seat, saying doing so will affect GPS’ relationship with Bersatu, led by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Bersatu, however, has not made any decision to contest in the Sarawak state election.

PAS in recent months had indicated it would put candidates in seats it contested in the previous state election.

Wan Junaidi said PAS has not been accepted by the Malays or even by the Dayaks since it set foot in Sarawak in the 1990s.

On GPS’ ties with Umno, Wan Junaidi said the peninsula-based Malay party has shown its sincerity by not setting up its branches in Sarawak, even as he acknowledged that they both hold different stances on a number of issues.