PPBM to spread its wings to Sarawak

PETALING JAYA: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) plans to make inroads into Sarawak to expand its political influence there, its chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
The prime minister said the idea came following requests from people in Sarawak, and considering PPBM is the only Pakatan Harapan (PH) party that does not have a branch in the state.
However, Mahathir said the party would not be expanding to Sabah, saying the coalition already had Parti Warisan Sabah, which the premier described as an ally.
"At this moment, the situation in Sarawak is all Barisan Nasional (BN) parties have left the coalition to form their own pact – Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
"It has not been finalised yet but since the other PH parties are already in Sarawak, and even PAS, I think it is only proper for us to expand," he told a press conference after chairing the party's supreme council meeting yesterday.
On the position of GPS in the state and whether PH would accept the coalition if such a request was made, Mahathir said it was up to GPS, adding that parties intending to join PH should be supportive of its cause.
Mahathir also clarified that the government would only reconsider proceeding with the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) project if the terms were renegotiated to benefit the country, dispelling claims that the decision was made in the interest of his long-time friend Tan Sri Vincent Tan.
He maintained he had no knowledge of Tan's involvement in the project, after reports surfaced that the Berjaya Corp Bhd executive chairman bought a substantial share of T7 Global Bhd, a company linked to the construction of the project's Terengganu parcel.
"All the current terms need to be renegotiated. And if we get better terms, of course we will continue with the project."
Mahathir had previously said he would scrap the project to reduce the government's expenditure, before Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said on Saturday the government would renegotiate the terms to find ways to reduce the costs, estimated to be over RM55 billion.
When contacted for comment, Tan said he would release a statement on the matter on Tuesday (today).
On Lim's decision to issue a statement in Mandarin on his Facebook page, Mahathir said: "It is a minor mistake on his part. I don't want to make it into an issue.
"Sometimes, people make mistakes. For this (issue), the statement was meant for his Chinese audience, that was why he issued it in Chinese. That's all."
Lim said the Finance Ministry's official statements in the national language, with translations in English and Mandarin, are necessary, especially when technical terms are involved.
In a statement issued only in Bahasa Malaysia, he said he would still use other languages in his social media posts.
"My Mandarin statement on Facebook did not have the Finance Ministry's letterhead. The position of upholding Article 152 of the Federal Constitution that Bahasa Malaysia is the national language was never questioned," he said.
"However, I will use other languages on my social media account and also Chinese to communicate with the Chinese press."
Lim added that he has taken note of the criticism on his Mandarin statement on Facebook, and thanked the public for their concern.
On another matter, Mahathir also gave the thumbs-up to Proton Holdings Bhd's yet-to-be-launched sports utility vehicle, after giving it a test drive on Friday.
"It's very good. I found the quality is very high. And I think it will be a good car for our market," he said, adding that he also had a discussion with officials from DRB-Hicom Bhd and China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd to discuss Proton's direction.
Geely bought a 49.9% stake in Proton from DRB-Hicom in May last year.