KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — The newly formed Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is not a like-for-like replacement of the disbanded Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, a state assistant minister has said.
According to a report in Borneo Post, Sarawak Assistant Minister for Coastal Road Datuk Julaihi Narawi said that GPS is different than Sarawak BN as it has more decision-making powers compared to the latter.
“Some quarters have accused us of ‘changing our outfit’ only because we are former BN (members) and now (we are) GPS. Personally, such an accusation is not right because we are former BN (members) — we were associated with the federal BN. But with GPS now, our parties are all locally-based and operating in Sarawak,” he reportedly said.
“That makes a difference. And most definitely our (GPS) chairman is from Sarawak, not from Kuala Lumpur,” he added.
GPS was formed in June by the same four component parties that previously formed Sarawak BN: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
Sarawak BN was disbanded shortly after BN lost federal power for the first time in Malaysia’s history during the 14th general election.
GPS is not part of BN or the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, and remains independent while aligning itself with the federal government on certain issues.
