KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) said it has always been open to negotiation with United People’s Party (UPP) for the sake of unity in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
Its president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said SUPP had never given up on it but unfortunately, all efforts always ended in a stalemate.
“We kept trying to reach out to UPP. I don’t know how many times already. Unfortunately, we were forced to stop reaching out when I received a letter from the party (UPP) informing us that they are terminating all discussions as we were longer in the Barisan Nasional,” he told New Sarawak Tribune in an interview at his residence here.
According to him, he received the letter not long after the 14th general election which saw Pakatan Harapan (PH) taking over Putrajaya and all four former state BN components quitting coalition to form GPS.
On the possibility of GPS accepting UPP into the coalition, Dr Sim said, “Let us not speculate as anything can happen between now and the next state election. For now, GPS has not been launched yet.
“Between now and the next state election, there will be many more chaotic scenarios than in the past. Unlike previously, we now have so many political parties in the state including those from Semenanjung such as the newly-formed Bersatu led by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.”
He also declined to give a straight-forward reply when asked on the possibility of SUPP and UPP merging into one entity.
Meanwhile UPP, which is still waiting for the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to approve its rebranding exercise, said so far there was no official invitation for it to join GPS.
“We will wait for GPS official launch on January 19, and after that we will wait and see,” said its president Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh.
