KUCHING, Aug 12 — The majority of delegates at Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) are in support of the party entering into Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), the yet to be registered alliance of local ruling parties that formed after their exit from the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal coalition.
SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said the party now has the mandate to join Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) to officially form GPS.
“Now, nobody can say that we have no authority to join GPS, and that authority came today after the majority of the delegates voted to give their support after an extensive debate,” Dr Sim told reporters after chairing the ADC at the party headquarters here.
He added that a minority who attended the annual delegates’ conference (ADC) wanted SUPP to opt out of the ruling coalition.
Dr Sim expressed confidence that GPS will not be “old wine in a new bottle” and that past mistakes committed by the BN will not be repeated by the new ruling coalition.
The state minister of local government and housing said SUPP delegates had called on the Sarawak government to allocate shares of the state-owned Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) to all Sarawakians, including newborns, and that dividends to be declared and paid on a yearly basis.
“The ADC also gave its full support to the state government to continue defending our ownership rights over oil and gas resources,” he said, adding that the delegates urged the state government to reject a 20 per cent oil royalty based on profits being proposed by the Pakatan Harapan federal government.
Dr Sim said delegates also adopted a resolution urging the state government to provide a sum of RM2,000 to any family in the event one of its member passes away.
“In the same way, the delegates also adopted a resolution urging the state government to provide a sum of RM2,000 to all newly born Sarawakians,” he said.
He said about 12,000 Sarawakians died and another 35,000 others born each year.
“Based on our calculation, the state government only needs to allocate about RM94 million each year for the families of the deceased members and to the newly born Sarawakians,” he said.
