BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Sarawak ruling parties leaving BN was expected, the New Straits Times reported. 

“If they have decided to do this we cannot do anything," he is quoted as saying.

“I expected this to happen, even though the spirit of comradeship dictates that when we are down all our friends should stay together and fight for the cause, nation and rakyat.

“But since they chose that way (to leave), what can we do? We cannot do anything but we now know who is a friend and who is our foe,” Tengku Adnan said.

The Umno secretary-general said if this was the end of BN, it had to be accepted.

Yesterday, Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg announced the dissolution of Sarawak BN. 

All four component parties – PBB, SUPP, PRS and PDP – have formed a new state-based alliance called Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

The once-exalted BN entered the 14th general election with 13 parties but in just a month since its disastrous defeat on May 9, the coalition has disintegrated and is left with only four parties.

The four parties are Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan.

This has raised concerns that the opposition coalition may collapse soon.

Tengku Adnan said the fate of the BN as a coalition can only be decided upon the return of its acting chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is performing the umrah in Makkah.

“I am waiting for him to return and we will discuss what to do. After that, if BN has to be disbanded then it will be. What to do?” he said.