INTIMIDATION should not be used by any party in Pakatan Harapan (PH) following the coalition's defeat in the Sabah State Election (PRN), especially when the demands put forward were not met.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim stressed that such an action was a big mistake and inappropriate when DAP lost the PRN and then blamed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or PKR.
"DAP should not show its fangs, do not show its claws. We still need each other in PH. Threatening is not sweet even if it is delivered in a mile manner.
"DAP is part of the government and is also in the Cabinet. Ministers are not only from PKR - UMNO and Warisan are also there, so is DAP. It just so happens that Anwar is the Prime Minister.
“If there is a defeat, it is a shared responsibility. Don't lose in Sabah and then blame the Prime Minister. That is not fair. PKR also lost, so don't look for an excuse to leave PH,” he said as reported by Sinar Harian.
According to him, DAP has a record of having exited political coalitions with PKR and other parties several times before when the coalition failed to form a government.
"For example, when DAP joined forces with Semangat 46 and other opposition parties in Gagasan Rakyat in the 1990 and 1995 general elections, both lost and DAP left the coalition.
"That was the first time DAP left and the second time was when Barisan Alternatif (BA) was formed while Anwar was imprisoned in 1998. When it did not win in the 1999 and 2004 elections, DAP left BA, while PKR remained," he said.
“First, they fought with Semangat 46, then they had a disagreement with PAS. In 2018, when they saw an opportunity, DAP joined the government and Lim Guan Eng became the Minister of Finance.
“In 2022, they saw an opportunity again and supported Anwar as Prime Minister. But now they may see that GE16 is difficult to win, so they want to leave PH. The Malays say, when the honey is gone, the straw is thrown away,” he said.
In this regard, he advised DAP not to make a big mistake by leaving PH.
"We will not forget, as long as we were together from BA to PH. Now the genuine party in PH is PKR. If we want to have a multi-racial government, PH and PKR must be together.
"If DAP mishandles this issue, make no mistake, the power of this country will be controlled by a coalition of Malay parties as a whole and DAP will be the opposition, with no role whatsoever," he said.
Therefore, he said, DAP needs to work together with PKR to solve the problem by holding a meeting and not by threats.
In the Sabah PRN which was held on November 29, PH suffered a heavy defeat when it won only one seat despite various strategies and collaborations with other parties.
The only seat PH won was Melalap through PKR candidate Jamawi Ja'afar. DAP lost all eight contested seats.
The immediate reaction of DAP to the Sabah results included giving an ultimatum to the government led by Anwar to immediately implement institutional reforms.
DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke said that if the changes demanded were not implemented by that deadline, the party would reconsider its position in the Cabinet, but would continue to support Anwar as Prime Minister. – December 15, 2025
