MIRI – Sarawak community leaders have expressed their gratitude to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for convincing Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to work with Pakatan Harapan in forming a unity government in Putrajaya.
After earlier concerns over GPS’ initial support for Perikatan Nasional (PN), which includes PAS, the state’s citizens are expressing hope for a better deal for all races and religions, including for indigenous groups in Sarawak.
Datuk Peter Minos, who is Kota Samarahan Municipal Council chairman and former Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu information chief, said the king had been pivotal in getting a new government into place.
“We thank the Agong for his wisdom and his role in getting a unity government in place in Putrajaya.
“We thank him for getting GPS to work with Pakatan in this new federal government.
“GPS did the right thing in heeding the advice of the King and joining PH in the unity government.
“We in Sarawak need to be on friendly terms with the federal government in order to move forward and progress.
“Whatever differences we had in the past in politics, let it be in the past. We move forward from here,” he told reporters in a press statement.
Society for Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Sarawak also praised the king for his role in overseeing the formation of the new government.
“With this, we expect a better future for people of all races and religions and ethnicities,” the society’s secretary-general Michael Jok said.
He added that Sarawak’s native peoples are glad GPS made the U-turn to work with PH and not link up with PAS and Bersatu as it had initially planned to do.
This U-turn followed the advice from the Agong and after much pressure from concerned Sarawakians, he noted.
He added that the state’s indigenous people now await the formation of the new cabinet and hope for policies that will ensure fairness to all races, as well as concrete plans to uplift poverty-stricken communities.
The king had met with GPS leaders on Wednesday at Istana Negara, as well as with Barisan Nasional leaders amid uncertainty as to whether BN and GPS would form a PH-led government, or go with PN which said it had collected statutory declarations from 115 MPs, including GPS. – The Vibes, November 25, 2022
