The Gabungan Parti Sarawak ( abbrev: GPS; English: Sarawak Parties Alliance) is a

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

-based national

political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It was established in 2018 by four former

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

(BN) component parties operating solely in Sarawak following the federal coalition's defeat in the

2018 Malaysian general election General elections were held in Malaysia on Wednesday, 9 May 2018. At stake were all 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of parliament. The 13th Parliament was dissolved by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 7 April 2018. It would have be ...

. It is currently the fourth largest political coalition with 23 seats in the

Dewan Rakyat The Dewan Rakyat (; Jawi script, Jawi: ), is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Malaysia, Parliament which is the federal legislature of Malaysia. The chamber and its powers are established by Article 44 of the Constitu ...

, and forms the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

in the state of Sarawak.

History

Formation

GPS was formed on 12 June 2018, consisting of

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( abbrev: PBB; ) is a political party based in Sarawak, East Malaysia. It is currently the largest multiracial and bumiputera's political party in Sarawak. Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu was formed from the co ...

(PBB), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP),

Sarawak United Peoples' Party The Sarawak United Peoples' Party ( abbrev: SUPP; ) is a multiracial local political party of Malaysia based in Sarawak. The SUPP president is Dr. Sim Kui Hian. He succeeded the post from his predecessor, Peter Chin Fah Kui in 2014. Establish ...

(SUPP), and

Parti Rakyat Sarawak Sarawak Peoples' Party ( Malay: ''Parti Rakyat Sarawak''; abbrev: PRS) is a multiracialist & nationalist political party in Sarawak. The party was founded in the wake of the de-registration of the Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak and later Sarawa ...

(PRS). The four parties were former component parties in

(BN) coalition, with a

gentleman's agreement ''Gentleman's Agreement'' is a 1947 American drama film based on Laura Z. Hobson's best-selling 1947 novel of the same title. The film is about a journalist (played by Gregory Peck) who pretends to be Jewish to research an exposé on the wid ...

that Peninsular or Sabah based parties within BN would never establish themselves in Sarawak, thus giving the parties a relative autonomy. The coalition focuses on the state's interests and rights based on the

Malaysia Agreement The Malaysia Agreement,; or the Agreement relating to Malaysia between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore (MA63) was a legal document which agreed to combine Nor ...

and remain an opposition at the

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

(PH) federal government despite the readiness to "cooperate and collaborate". On 23 August 2018, its chairman,

Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Abang Openg (born 4 August 1950), also known as Abang Johari or Abang Jo, is a Malaysian politician who has served as the sixth and current Premier of Sarawak since 2017. A member of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersat ...

, announced that GPS Gabungan Parti Sarawak has been registered and is awaiting the issuance of the official letter from the Registrar of Societies (RoS). The coalition was finally legalised on 19 November 2018.

Policy

As the component parties of GPS quit BN ''en bloc'', it inherits BN's former place and dominance in Sarawak politics. The party claimed to continue the legacy of

Adenan Satem Adenan bin Haji Satem (; 27 January 1944 – 11 January 2017), popularly known as Tok Nan, was a Malaysian politician who served as the fifth chief minister of Sarawak from March 2014 to his death in January 2017. During his tenure, Adenan he ...

, a relatively popular former Sarawak's chief minister, who led BN Sarawak to its triumph in 2016 state election on basis of greater autonomy of Sarawak. Although the party pushed for constitutional amendments in accordance to 1963 Malaysian Agreement, its policy did not mention an outright Sarawak independence, rather it prefers to work within existing laws to regain what it calls as Sarawak's rights. The coalition launched its party policy in Kuching on 19 January 2019. It often received condemnation from opposition parties in Sarawak and foreign observers for continuing abuse of government powers, such as uneven allocation of aid and development and perceived punishment toward ethnic chiefs not aligned with the government. The party also directly or indirectly controlled most major media publications in Sarawak.

Political crisis

Following the political crisis in 2020 (which saw the PH government lose its majority in the

), GPS entered into an agreement by declaring support for the new government coalition,

Perikatan Nasional Perikatan Nasional (PN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Right-wing politics, right-wing and Far-right politics, far-right political parties. It is the second largest political coalition in Dewan Rakyat w ...

(PN). GPS chairman, however, maintained that the agreement will not see GPS become a member of PN, but will remain as a partner instead. A week after PN's prime ministerial pick,

Muhyiddin Yassin Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin (; ), is a Malaysian politician who served as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2020 to 2021. Appointed as prime minister amid a 2020–2022 Malay ...

, was sworn in as the new premier, he announced his cabinet which saw four MPs from GPS appointed full ministers, and five others as deputy ministers.

Elections

GPS made its maiden electoral appearance in

2021 Sarawak state election The 2021 Sarawak state election, formally the 12th Sarawak general election, took place on 18 December 2021. This election was to elect 82 members of the 19th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly. The previous assembly was dissolved on 3 November ...

. The election was marked as a huge success for the party, as it increased control over

Sarawak State Legislative Assembly The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly is the legislative chamber of the unicameral legislature of the Malaysian state of Sarawak; the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak forms the other part of the legislature. The Assembly is modelled after th ...

by winning 76 out of 82 seats contested.

Member parties

List of party chairmen

Elected representatives

Dewan Negara (Senate)

Senators

* His Majesty's appointee: ** Susan Chemarai Anding (PBB) ** Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah (PBB) **

Rita Sarimah Patrick Insol Rita Sarimah anak Patrick Insol is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who has served as a Dewan Negara, Senator from June 2020 to June 2023 and was reappointed for a second term in November 2023. She is a member of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS ...

(PRS) ** Pele Peter Tinggom (PDP) ** Robert Lau Hoi Yew (SUPP) *

: ** Michael Mujah Lihan (PBB) ** Ahmad Ibrahim (PBB)

Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)

Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament

Gabungan Parti Sarawak has 23 MPs in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

Malaysian State Assembly Representatives

GPS state governments

Ministerial posts

Parliamentary general election results

State legislative assembly general election results

Notes

References

External links

* {{Malaysian political parties Political party alliances in Malaysia 2018 establishments in Malaysia Political parties established in 2018 Centre-right parties in Asia Multiracialist parties in Malaysia