Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and the Sarawak BN have once again shut the door on any possibility of forming a unity government with DAP.

"PBB's direction and policies are different from DAP’s. We cannot work with the party that has tried to run down the state government," PBB secretary-general Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said.

Stephen was responding to Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen, who said his party did not rule out the possibility of forming a unity government with Sarawak BN at the state level.

“I don't 100 percent rule out (we will form) a unity government,” Chong was quoted as saying by the Sin Chew Daily .

However, he denied that DAP would join BN.

In many countries, the opposition cooperates with ruling parties at state levels, but fights at the federal level, added Chong.

However, PBB took the opposite view.

"Chong would be the last person for us to cooperate with," Stephen ( photo ) said when contacted by Malaysiakini .

He felt there was no need for PBB to form a unity government with DAP to grab Chinese seats as the party sensed that the support of Chinese community toward BN, which plunged to its lowest in the 2011 state election, is finally picking up.

“We can take a minimum of four Chinese majority seats won by DAP (in the last state election),” Stephen confidently predicted.

He said his party and Sarawak BN had never kow-towed to DAP, even when they had little Chinese support following the time when SUPP fragmented into two parties.

However, in the coming state election, Stephen believes that some from the Chinese community, touched by Chief Minister Adenan Satem, would think twice to vote against BN, which has treated them with kindness.

Speculation that either PBB or DAP had initiated the idea of a unity government has been rife since Adenan took office on March 1, 2014.

“They are up to something. This is only a political gimmick,” Stephen said, adding that he personally believed that DAP had come out with this as Chong wanted to be seen as aligning with the state government.

DAP: Unity gov’t never discussed

Meanwhile, Sarawak DAP secretary Alan Ling said neither DAP nor PBB had initiated the unity government idea.

This is the voice, wish and opinion of the people, who want to see the opposition in the political mainstream in the struggle for better governance, Ling argued.

He said Sarawak DAP had never discussed the possibility of a unity government, nor brought the matter to central level.

Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian ( photo ) also said there was no talk with PKR on any unity government concept, but individual leaders, including him and vice-presidents Ali Biju and See Chee How, had been made offers to join PBB and BN.

PKR would only agree to the idea of a unity government if PBB quits BN and observed the 18-Points Agreement for Sarawak, which was made when Malaysia was formed, Baru asserted.

Without thorough discussions, the unity government idea could backfire, and this would only be a political gimmick, he added.

Adenan should first dissociate himself from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the BN before initiating the idea of a unity government.

"The trust of our voters may be betrayed. They should not talk from behind the back. I won't agree,” Baru said.

Stephen also said the Sarawak election has nothing to do with Najib and Umno as it is about Sarawak only.