COMMENT | PDP-PSB merger irritates GPS

COMMENT | One is a Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) component party while the other is an opposition party in Sarawak.

The opposition party is prepared to close shop and its entire membership base of 80,000 will be joining the GPS coalition en masse next February.

This is the story of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), a GPS partner and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), an opposition party born a decade ago as a result of a factional tussle in the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).

The PDP/PSB courtship started last August when PSB president Wong Soon Koh and his PDP counterpart Tiong King Sing announced a merger of their two parties. The impending dissolution of PSB is not a surprise as it is just a small entity with only three state assemblypersons.

The PDP/PSB tie-up is really no big deal in Sarawak but it is nonetheless irritating to GPS as the state seats won by PSB are expected to create some tension within the governing coalition come the next state election due in 2026.

The three PSB seats...