PBDS chief: No to DPM post, more important matters to claim

Bobby William PBDSB

KUCHING (Oct 25): Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) president Bobby William has given his thumbs down to the Deputy Prime Minister’s post dangled by Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) for Sabah and Sarawak.

He said there is greater need to recognise the Dayak race and to gain more money from oil and gas for the two Borneon states rather than getting a Deputy Prime Minister’s post.

“We don’t need the DPM’s posts. What Sarawak and Sabah need is payment for our oil & gas resources via shares in national oil company Petronas.

“We want our oil & gas back and our autonomy. Petronas will still play important role in our oil industry, but we Sarawak and Sabah control our resources and distribute accordingly based on needs to all the other states,” he said.

He also said Dayak’s status as a race must be properly recognised and no longer listed as ‘Lain-lain’ (others) in the race column of official forms.

“We the Dayaks cannot become a lesser race in Malaysia. Even the Orang Asli were granted with Special Budget Allocation amounting to RM350 million. And what about us the Dayaks?” he stressed.

He was responding to news reports of PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi both dangling a DPM’s spot for the Borneo states in return for their support in the 15th general election.

Anwar, who is also PKR president, was quoted as saying PH could propose appointing two deputy prime ministers in the event the coalition won GE15.

“There exists a suggestion for us to name two DPMs if we win, one from the peninsula and another from Sabah and Sarawak,” he was quoted as saying.

PH has already named Anwar as its choice to be prime minister in the event the coalition wins its second general election in a row.

Separately, Zahid, who is also Umno president, went one better by claiming BN could name as many as three DPMs were it to regain full control of Putrajaya.

However, he asserted that one from Sabah would be certain if the coalition won GE15 on Nov 19.

“There is nothing wrong with having three deputy prime ministers as the position itself is not mentioned in the Federal Constitution,” he was quoted as saying,

While Malaysia had always had a deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin broke with tradition after seizing control of the government unelected in 2020 and eschewed one in order to maintain a fragile alliance with BN at the time.

He, however, appointed Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as DPM on July 7 last year, a month before resigning as PM.

Ismail Sabri, after succeeding the ousted Muhyiddin, also did not name a DPM after taking over as PM on Aug 20.

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