KUCHING, Jan 10 — Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDS Baru) has no plans to be a part of Saksama — a coalition of Opposition parties not aligned with Barisan Nasional (BN) or Pakatan Harapan (PH) in Sarawak and Sabah.
Its president Cobbold John Lusoi said his party has a different agenda compared to Saksama and other political alliances.
“We will go it alone in this general election,” he told Malay Mail.
Saksama — an acronym for Sarawak, Sabah and Malaya — was formed by Sarawak State Reform Party (STAR), Sabah-based Malaysia United People’s Party (MUPP), Pertubuhan Perpaduan Rakyat Kebangsaan Sabah (Perpaduan) and Parti Sejahtera Angkatan Perpaduan Sabah (SAPU).
Meanwhile, STAR president Lina Soo confirmed today that PBDS Baru had been invited to join Saksama as a member, but it declined, despite its representatives attending an informal meeting in Kota Kinabalu in 2016.
Soo said Saksama, just like PH, had yet to be registered with the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
“We have had an informal preliminary discussion with RoS with an interest to register, but no, we are not registered with RoS yet as we understand it will not be easy to get approval,” she added.
As such, she said the coalition will not be able to use its own symbol in the GE14.
“In the interim and in preparation for GE14 which is expected any time soon, we have decided to have one common symbol — STAR’s symbol — for our coalition while the candidates themselves will remain members of their own parties,” she said.
