(Kuching, 24th) The Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (Sarawak PH) held a regular meeting yesterday, during which the Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) officially expressed its intention to contest in the upcoming Sarawak state election. It will join forces with the Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Sarawak Amanah to jointly counter the political hegemony of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), striving for better and fairer rights and welfare for the people of Sarawak.
The meeting, chaired by Sarawak PH Chairman, Sarawak DAP Chairman, and state and federal assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen, saw the three parties discuss preparations for the upcoming state elections to ensure maximum combat effectiveness.
Recently, there were remarks from a GPS leader asking Sarawak PH to "withdraw and not contest," to avoid affecting the cooperation with the current unity government, threatening to withdraw support from the unity government otherwise. Such statements were deemed arrogant and narrow-minded, attempting to allow GPS to continue monopolizing the Sarawak state assembly, turning it into a one-sided platform without the checks and balances provided by opposition parties.
Chong Chieng Jen stated that in any democratic system, a monopoly and single-party dominance in parliament ultimately disadvantages ordinary citizens.
Based on this, the Sarawak DAP has taken the lead in announcing a comprehensive contest in the elections and emphasized that even within the framework of the unity government, GPS should not be allowed to grow too dominant.
Currently, GPS holds an overwhelming majority in the Sarawak state assembly with 80 seats against 2 (held by DAP), tightly controlling 80 seats, almost forming an "absolute power." The continued lack of appropriate checks and oversight may lead to policy imbalance, even "absolute corruption." Therefore, the Sarawak DAP, having received support through multiple internal meetings, has decided to contest in the upcoming state elections to ensure checks and balances in the Sarawak assembly, preventing GPS from becoming overly dominant and acting as they please.
During the meeting, the Sarawak PKR finally clearly stated their intention to participate in the upcoming state elections, allowing Sarawak PH to develop a campaign mechanism earlier, preparing thoroughly for the election battle to ensure the opposition can contest and win in more constituencies, breaking GPS's political monopoly.
Therefore, Chong Chieng Jen, as the chairman of Sarawak PH, expressed his support for the statement from PKR.