Sng (seated, left) speaks during the press conference. He was accompanied by Mohamaddin (seated, second left and Kamarazaman (seated, second right) and others in the press conference.
KOTA KINABALU (Aug 28): Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and Parti Kuasa Rakyat (Kuasa Rakyat) have decided to join forces ahead of the 15th General Election, which is widely expected to be held soon.
Announcing the move at a press conference here today, Kuasa Rakyat president Kamarazaman Yaakob said it was the wish of his party’s leaders, members and supporters that their entity be named, Parti Kuasa Rakyat Bangsa Malaysia.
“They were initially reluctant but I convinced them that this will be a strong coalition that can bring about a bigger political contribution to the national political movement. I hope PBM can consider this proposal during its AGM (annual general meeting),” he said.
PBM president Datuk Larry Sng also told the press conference that to accommodate the leaders from Kuasa Rakyat, PBM will be amending its Constitution so that leaders from Kuasa Rakyat can be accorded posts in the party.
“PBM will come up with a power sharing formula in the supreme council to accord posts to leaders from Kuasa Rakyat and we will also be discussing how we can bring in more members and have more representation from Kuasa Rakyat.
“We will be having our AGM soon and we will be discussing how to incorporate the views and aspirations of Kuasa Rakyat members who will be joining us. Amendments will be made to our constitution and we will also take into account other people’s opinions as well as take more weightage to Sabah and Sarawak given that we do expect more representation from east Malaysia,” he said.
“This is a very positive development. We welcome members of Kuasa Rakyat full heartedly and we want to ensure that there is political stability in Malaysia. We are here to support the Government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri and bring development to the country,” he said.
Sng also disclosed that PBM expects to welcome a few more MPs and will be making the announcement on August 30.
“In the 15th general election, we will be contesting in seats where we have incumbents, namely Julau, Ampang, Tebrau and now Lahad Datu. Currently we have four seats but we expect more MPs to join us and we will have an announcement on August 30,” he said.
On the possibility of PBM clashing with Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 15GE if its application to join the coalition does not go through, Sng said that it was a ‘wait and see’ situation.
“We will wait and see what will happen because as of now BN has not made any decisions with regards to PBM’s application to join the coalition. We however stress that PBM fully supports our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri and will work together with the government, that is our position,” he said.