KUALA LUMPUR: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has been warned that its decision to back Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the next prime minister could draw the ire of the Dayak community.
Saya Anak Sarawak (SAS) founder Peter John Jaban said Dayak voters would likely punish GPS in the next state elections for supporting PN in forming the federal government.
Yesterday, Sin Chew Daily reported Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, a senior vice-president of GPS's Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, as saying GPS had submitted statutory declarations to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on its MPs' support for Muhyiddin.
The Dayaks make up 40 per cent of Sarawak's voters.
"Bear in mind that Dayak voters may make a big U-turn in the next state elections. Now all the Dayak voters who supported GPS (in the last state elections) are very disappointed as they had put so much trust in the coalition," Jaban told a news portal.
A petition calling on Christian MPs from GPS to reject any collaboration with PN to form the next government garnered more than 36,800 signatures as of yesterday.
The petition was launched after Sarawak assemblyman Baru Bian urged GPS to reject any alliance with PN and its component party PAS.
He referred to a statement by Muhyiddin about purported attempts to Christianise Malaysia by Pakatan Harapan, which the Bersatu president has since said was taken out of context by PN's rivals to tarnish his image.
Baru also said PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, who is number two in PN, had shown himself to be a "religious and racist bigot" when he accused non-Muslims of being at the root of corruption.
Analyst James Chin of University of Tasmania's Asia Institute said GPS' decision to support PN should not come as a surprise.
"People keep forgetting that GPS has been part of the core group that has supported the PN government since 2020," he said, adding that it has received a lot of concessions from PN.
He disagreed with Jaban, saying Dayak voters would probably forget their anger over GPS' backing of PN by the time the next state elections rolled around.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said Dayak voters might grumble now but "what eventually matters most in an election is the ability of the candidates to make material disbursements".
"For example, the Kadazans previously grumbled for a few weeks about PAS making inroads into Sabah. But that soon fizzled out and they happily voted for Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, which is an offshoot of PN."