In a press conference in Kuching, the DAP veteran acknowledged that many voters were disappointed with PH’s 22 months in Putrajaya, admitting that he was also unhappy with the coalition’s performance when in government.

However, the Iskandar Puteri MP maintained that it was unfair to judge the PH government based on its 22-month tenure before it was toppled, when it was given the mandate to govern for five years in GE14.

Aside from the shortened tenure, Lim explained that another reason for the delay in fulfilling its manifesto was because PH comprised four different parties at the time, namely DAP, PKR, Amanah and Bersatu.

“DAP was one of four political parties in PH, so we needed to convince the other parties. But there was resistance in the government to the policies and election pledges.

“If it was a DAP single-party government, we could have done it,” he said.

Commenting on the passing of the constitutional amendments based on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) yesterday, Lim said government MPs were all cheers back in 1976 when the Dewan Rakyat passed amendments, which took away several of Sarawak’s rights.

“Forty-five years ago, 130 MPs had voted in support of the amendment, while only nine had voted against the bill. All nine MPs came from DAP.

“The DAP has been accused of being an outsider, peninsula party that can’t be trusted and doesn’t understand Sarawakians’ problems. But, in 1976, we looked after Sarawak’s interests, while Sarawak government leaders failed the people of Sarawak.”

He added that Sarawak state government leaders would not be as bold to champion Sarawak’s rights had it not been for PH’s win in GE14, which led to Barisan Nasional’s temporary fall from power.

After BN’s loss in GE14, the four Sarawak BN parties left the coalition to form Gabungan Parti Sarawak.