KUCHING: SNAP will be the ‘dogs’ of DAP if they agree to merge with the latter, said chief political secretary to the chief minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Abdul Karim, also Asajaya assemblyman, said when DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang proposed the idea for SNAP and DAP to merge, his (Lim’s) aim was to counter the public perception that DAP is a Chinese party, and not a genuine plan to merge.
SNAP used to be part of the state BN but in the just-concluded state election, its uphill battle to regain relevancy in Sarawak failed when 25 out of its 26 candidates including president Edwin Dundang Bugak lost their deposits.
Abdul Karim said when Lim proposed the idea, he wanted to tell people that DAP needed the support of the Dayak majority in order to strengthen its aim to topple the state BN through the control of rural seats.
DAP managed to secure urban seats, judging from its successful outing in the last state polls where it won all Chinese-majority seats in Kuching, Bintangor and Sarikei although failing to capture one each of such seats in Sibu and Miri.
“It (SNAP-DAP proposed merger) would only be a marriage for the benefit of DAP. At the moment, the marriage is impossible,” he said when asked to comment on the idea.
“I still believe SNAP leaders would not want to be played out by DAP,” he said.
He said: “If they are sincere, DAP on behalf of the Pakatan Rakyat should appoint PKR state liaison chief Baru Bian to be the leader of the state opposition.”
“Afterall that was what one of them had said before. The leader (DAP state secretary Chong Cheing Jen) has said that Baru should be the opposition leader of Sarawak if Pakatan had won the 10th state election,” Abdul Karim stressed.
Meanwhile, certain quarters said that DAP-SNAP would be a formidable force which should not be taken lightly by the state BN.
But Dundang said Lim’s merger idea has to be deeply assessed.
He said an important decision over the proposal cannot be made overnight, let alone by saying “Yes, SNAP agree.”
“There are those who believe that the merger is a great idea. Nevertheless such idea has to to be studied thoroughly,” he said.
Lim suggested the idea following the conclusion of the state polls on April 16 where DAP won 12 seats out of 15 contested and also its giant feat in capturing BN stronghold Piasau held by former deputy chief minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan.
Prior to the polls, SNAP was overly confident that they fielded candidates in places where PKR fielded theirs. The outcome turned out to be disastrous and people speculated that SNAP would never gain relevance in Sarawak.
Dundang conceded that he was not properly informed or consulted on the proposed merger and said he only knew about it through the mass media.
In another development over the same issue, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was quoted by a news portal as saying that he is confident that SNAP and DAP cannot merge because they have different identities and political ideologies .
“I could not see how SNAP can accept DAP. I can’t see it. Their ideologies are not the same,” the BN chairman said.
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