No regrets about leaving BN, Sarawak leader maintains after Johor polls

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah maintains that leaders in the state have no regrets about leaving Barisan Nasional (BN) in Sarawak, just days after the coalition notched another election victory in Johor.

Speaking to MalaysiaNow, he said if Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) had remained in BN, the state would not have a voice.

“The decision to leave was a collective move by all the parties in Sarawak BN then,” he said.

“It was the correct decision.”

Pointing to GPS’ landslide victory in the Sarawak state election last December, he said this was proof of the peope’s acceptance of the coalition led by premier Abang Johari Openg.

“GPS won 76 of the 82 seats it contested,” he said. “So there is no issue of regret about leaving BN. It was a good decision.”

GPS, comprising PBB, Parti Rakyat Sarawak, the Progressive Democratic Party and the Sarawak United People’s Party, was formed following BN’s shock defeat at the 2018 general election.

On the results of the Johor election on Saturday, Karim said a clear message had been sent to political leaders.

“Congratulations to BN for the overwhelming win,” he added. “The winners as well as the losers have to sit down and do their post-mortems on what made them win big and lose big.”

Nevertheless, he said it was still difficult to say if BN could pull off a similar victory at the 15th general election.

“How the general election goes depends on how the political parties and their leaders adjust themselves,” he said.

He added that BN had won partly due to what he described as arrogance on the part of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and its inability to show that it could govern well.

BN won 40 of the 56 seats in the Johor state assembly last Saturday.

PH, which previously held 27, won 11 while PKR which contested separately under its own logo won one.

Perikatan Nasional won three.