Spurned STAR still seeks to join Sarawak Pakatan Harapan
Party leader Lina Soo says it is to avoid direct clashes in future elections with their common opponent: Barisan Nasional.
On March 19, the Sarawak-based components of DAP, PKR and Amanah formally agreed on seat allocation for the state’s parliamentary seats in the next general election (GE14).
Excluded from the pact were local parties STAR, Parti Bansa Dayak Baru (PBDS Baru), Parti Bumi Kenyalang and Sarawak Workers’ Party.
STAR president Lina Soo today expressed the party’s wish to join the opposition coalition, saying it would prevent multi-cornered fights between the opposition parties and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).
“Our party doors are always open for a united opposition. We would like to gently remind the opposition parties that the common enemy is BN and Umno,” Soo told FMT.
At a press conference on Monday, Soo said the party wanted to join the coalition to have a single political platform.
She was responding to a statement by Sarawak PKR leader Baru Bian on Sunday that STAR and PBDS Baru were not invited to join Pakatan Harapan because the local parties did not generate much support from Sarawakians.
Baru also expressed doubt that the two parties had credible candidates for the coming election.
“He (Baru) should not underestimate small parties. If Baru said STAR does not have credible people, we invite PKR to a public debate on Malaysia Agreement 1963 and regionalism. Let the public and media decide,” Soo told FMT.
Soo said she was confident that the opposition parties would be able to reconcile, despite her past comments labelling DAP as a “Malayan party” and saying that Sarawak’s opposition should consist of only locally-based parties.
“As the opposition, we have to accept that we criticise both BN and other opposition parties if we don’t agree with their policies and agenda,” Soo said.
“And didn’t DAP also ask Sarawak BN to leave the national BN? Has DAP ever proposed to Sarawak BN to form a Sarawak unity government?”
STAR held its annual general meeting on Sunday, where it reaffirmed its opposition to the government’s bill to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, saying the new Islamic laws would violate the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Federal Constitution.
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Sarawak will only see parliamentary elections during GE14, as state elections were conducted last May. The state has 31 federal seats up for grabs in the general election, which must be held by June 2018.