Sabah and Sarawak will technically ‘secede’ from Malaysia
If this does happen, will the Sabah and Sarawak state governments get together to form a new East Malaysian coalition or alliance (say, GSS or Gabungan Sabah dan Sarawak) to negotiate with the PH federal government the issue of MA63 and the 20% oil royalty?
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has approved the registration of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). GPS was set up by four former Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties — Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) — that quit BN following its defeat in the 14th General Election.
In the 9th May 2018 general election, BN won 19 of the 31 parliament seats while Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 10 (the balance two were won by independents). For the 82 state seats (in the May 2016 state election), BN won 72 with 10 won by PH. PBB won 39, PRS won 11, SUPP won 7 and PDP won 4 (with 11 won by Barisan Nasional Direct Candidates).
Sarawakians are fiercely independent, just like the Kelantanese
Umno does not have any presence in Sarawak, like it does in Sabah. So Umno’s defeat, which resulted in Barisan Nasional’s defeat as well, did not really have a major impact in Sarawak. Nevertheless, the continued involvement of Sarawak political parties in BN may have an adverse effect on those parties come the next Sarawak state election in two-and-a-half years’ time (expected around May 2021).
The safest and most logical thing for the Sarawak political parties to do would be to abandon BN and form a new Sarawak-only coalition. Then it will have no ties with Umno and can deal with the PH federal government as a sort of ‘third force’. PH has no issues with Sarawak, just as long as Sarawak is not part of BN.
It is now Sabahans’ turn to follow Sarawak’s example
It is expected that Sabah political parties may consider a similar move. The Sabah ruling party, Warisan, won 21 of the 60 state seats in the May 2018 general election while BN won 29 (17 of them Umno). PH won just eight seats and the United Sabah Alliance (USP) the balance two.
If a new Sabah state coalition is formed, they may have enough seats to pass a vote of no confidence in the Sabah State Assembly and a new state government can take over. But it has to be a new coalition that has no links to Umno or BN, just like in Sarawak.
Will Sabah and Sarawak form a new Gabungan to negotiate their issues with the PH federal government in Putrajaya?
If this does happen, will the Sabah and Sarawak state governments get together to form a new East Malaysian coalition or alliance (say, GSS or Gabungan Sabah dan Sarawak) to negotiate with the PH federal government the issue of MA63 and the 20% oil royalty?
In politics anything is possible so that possibility will always exist.
And then who knows, PAS and Umno may come together for the next general election and form a new coalition to rule in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Kedah and Perlis, or what is called the ‘Malay heartland’. Or Umno might just close down and everyone joins PPBM to turn it into the ‘Umno Lagi Baru’.
