KUCHING: In a terse reply to a question on the choice made by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) for the post of Malaysia’s next Prime Minister, GPS Chairman, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said, “I leave it to the wisdom of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to decide.”
Abang Johari, who is also Sarawak’s Chief Minister, implied that it was up to the discretion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to choose the candidate with the most support.
He made that short statement in his press conference after the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Northern Region Water Board (LAKU) head office in Miri this morning.
The same questions were put forward by the media again here when he was met at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) entrance after GPS had a meeting today.
“How can I overtake the Agong? I cannot tell. Let the Yang di-Pertuan Agong make the decision,” he said.
However, Abang Johari confirmed that the 18 Members of Parliament (MP) from GPS submitted only one name to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in each of their statutory declarations that were submitted by 4.00 p.m. today.
He said GPS was of “one voice” with regard to their choice for the post of Prime Minister.
Earlier, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Supreme Council member, was reported by a local daily to have said that GPS had agreed in principle to nominate Umno Vice-President Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the next Prime Minister.
According to him, there were four factors for their choice, namely the strong support of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition to the State Government, Ismail Sabri’s vast experiences in helming various ministries with sufficient academic credentials, his approachability and friendliness yet stern in certain situations, and his experiences in handling the COVID-19 pandemic for the past 17 months under the PN Government.
“He is also familiar with the administration of the Government and how to handle the economic challenges posed by COVID-19,” he was reported to have said.
“Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri knows all these and in such situations, if he is appointed as the Prime Minister, he does not need to learn the ropes again because he already knows what to do.”
Regarding the suggestion to appoint an MP from Sarawak to become the Deputy Prime Minister, Wan Junaidi said it was not necessary to raise the matter as it would only ruffle some feathers.
“Of course we want the representation from Sarawak to be strengthened in the Government as I had said before but we also need to accept the fact that we only have 18 representatives. So we should not stir trouble, create frictions and raise questions that are uneasy such as this,” said the Santubong MP.
Earlier, a proposal was made by some quarters to appoint GPS and PBB Secretary-General cum Kapit MP Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi as the Deputy Prime Minister as he was deemed to be vastly experienced after being elected as MP for six consecutive terms and appointed a federal minister.
On Tuesday, GPS bigwigs attended the virtual audience with the King at about 1.40 p.m. following the resignation of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the Prime Minister and his Cabinet on Monday.
GPS, which comprises of PBB, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), has 18 parliamentary seats.
From that figure, PBB has 13 seats, PRS and PDP have two seats each, while SUPP has one seat.
