Karim: Shadow cabinet trouble expected

May 7, 2011

Opposition front does not practise spirit of consultationI had expected that the shadow cabinet would not be accepted by (PKR Sarawak chief) Baru Bian. I was proven right today (yesterday).- Tuan Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah 

KUCHING: The rejection of the opposition’s shadow cabinet by PKR was expected, said Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club chairman Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah yesterday.

He pointed out this is because the opposition front does not practise the spirit of consultation and consensus like the BN.

“I had expected that the shadow cabinet would not be accepted by (PKR Sarawak chief) Baru Bian. I was proven right today (yesterday),” he said when contacted yesterday.

Karim, who is also chief political secretary to the chief minister, was commenting on yesterday’s news reports which quoted Baru as saying that he rejected outright the shadow cabinet lineup announced by state DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng on May 1.

Baru, the newly-elected Ba Kelalan assemblyman, had also said he had decided not to accept the shadow cabinet because the committee meeting chaired by Wong had failed to include his opinion as state PKR liaison chief.

By making such a unilateral decision, Karim said DAP showed its chauvinistic side by naming its men for important portfolios.

As such, he called on PKR as well as SNAP to re-evaluate their working relations with DAP.

“The Bumiputera assemblymen in Pakatan Rakyat were obviously not consulted. A party like DAP does not have a place in a plural society like Sarawak,” he said.