The former deputy prime minister said he had not met the PBB president, who is also Sarawak chief minister, Abang Johari Tun Openg, to plead with him, as reported by a news portal today.

“The report on PBB Sarawak, which was reported to have left the BN, is beyond my knowledge,” he said in a statement which was uploaded to his Facebook account.

The portal, in an article today, claimed that Abang Johari during his visit to Putrajaya, on May 31, had informed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on PBB’s decision to leave BN, besides giving his assurance that Sarawak would support the present government under the administration of Pakatan Harapan.

He was later reported to have met Zahid in Kuala Lumpur, where the BN chairman was alleged to have urged Abang Johari not to proceed with the move to leave BN as the BN coalition would disintegrate if this happened.

Zahid however said he strongly respected and welcomed the stand of PBB and Sarawak BN component parties which planned to foster cooperative ties between the Sarawak government and the federal government leadership.

“BN is always open-minded and it encourages the state governments under the BN to take a similar stand in the interest of the state and people.

“With this statement, it is hoped that no one will report news in a non-professional manner and quickly jump to conclusions,” he added.