KUCHING: The Sarawak Barisan Nasional was never a marriage of convenience but a multiracial coalition that represented all the races in the state.
"Sarawak BN is a coalition of all the races with a purpose and it is our commitment that this grouping remains for the betterment of the state," Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said yesterday after chairing Sarawak's first cabinet meeting after the election.
Taib was responding to MCA's call for Sarawak United Peoples' Party to reject the state cabinet's post after its major loss in the election.
SUPP lost 12 of the 19 seats contested to DAP. SUPP president Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam also failed to defend his Piasau seat for the seventh term.
MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen on Monday said SUPP's loss to DAP meant its role in the state government was not valued and it must listen to the Chinese community.
She also said one way to do that was to stay out of the state cabinet.
Taib said even MCA had once won only one seat in one of the elections during the Tun Abdul Rahman era.
He said the late prime minister had allocated the one seat to MCA because he felt that the Chinese must be represented in the government.
"The BN coalition was not formed immediately after an election. The component parties within the coalition have a common agenda -- to work together before, during and after the election.
"Even now we are working towards the next election," said Taib.
According to sources, on Monday, the SUPP, during a closed-door meeting, had agreed on a motion to reject any state cabinet post due to its poor performance at the polls. The motion, however, was not supported by the central working committee.
MCA, on Wednesday, called on Taib to step down.
MCA vice-president Senator Gan Ping Siew said Taib had lost the support of the various ethnic groups in the state.
Gan said the results of the election, showed that Taib's administration did not have the support of Chinese voters.
Taib declined to comment, but Party Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak deputy president Datuk Seri Abang Johari Tun Openg said MCA "should mind their own business.
"MCA should learn to take care of themselves instead of telling us what to do," he said.- NST
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