Stay united, Abang Johari tells PBB

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president Abang Johari Openg today urged his party to remain united and to avoid factions, saying unity is the backbone of PBB’s success.

Abang Johari, who is also Sarawak premier, said power struggles would only cause the party to break up.

“Leaders come and go,” he said in his winding-up speech at PBB’s triennial general meeting in Kuching.

“What is more important is, PBB must continue to be a strong party.”

While PBB was currently in a position of strength, he said, the question was how long this would continue.

“We see that other parties have a lot of power struggles and quarrels with each other. After that, the party is destroyed,” he said.

Abang Johari gave the example of other parties which he said had “warlords” who fought among themselves.

“These parties are not united, and they disintegrate,” he said. “But in PBB, we have never had any warlords, from the beginning until today.”

He said it was possible that the younger leaders did not challenge their elders as they knew that the time had not yet come for them to take over positions of higher power in the party.

“Be patient,” he added. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. Why should we quarrel with each other because of power?”

Adding that the younger members would continue to receive training, he said he himself was no longer young.

“This is why we have the youth movement for those aged 18 to 28,” he said. “It is to safeguard our grandchildren’s future.”