PBB jittery with joint PRS, SUPP and SPDP forces Jul 3, 2014 Observers are querying why Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) is so worried over the ‘merger of minds’ mooted by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) to strengthen the three parties in facing the coming state election? The recent outbursts of senior PBB leader Abdul Karim Hamzah seems to indicate that PBB is not only worried, but feels its authority is under threat. PBB has been the senior partner of the state BN for more than 44 years and had ‘mistreated’ the smaller parties in the coalition. Thus, the observers opine that it regards the ‘merger of minds’ that was announced on June 21, 2014 by PRS president James Masing, SPDP acting president Tiong King Sing and SUPP president Peter Chin to fight off threat from Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) as a direct challenge to its authority and dominance. But for PRS, SPDP and SUPP, the appearance of Teras which seems to have the support of PBB is not only splitting the Dayak community, but also breaking up the state Barisan Nasional. The formation of the pact by the three parties sees them having 36 state seats to contest, with SUPP contesting 19 seats, PRS nine and SPDP eight. The 36 seats is one more than PBB, which is the backbone of the state government. “If the three parties can win all the 36 seats, they will certainly pose a threat to PBB, and moreover in PBB, there are nine Dayak state assemblypersons who are not given much say in the running of the state government. “A number of them are not happy as they have remained assistant ministers for decades. One of them is Gramong Juna who has remained as assistant minister for more than 30 years,” said Tedewin Ngumbang (left), former PRS deputy information chief. “Anything can happen after the next state election, and this worries PBB especially if PBB is in favour of admitting Teras into BN in spite of the strong opposition from PRS, SUPP and SPDP. “This explains why PBB and Abdul Karim are worried,” explained Tedewin. Abdul Karim made a ferocious attack on Masing over the pact, expressing surprise that the three parties were jittery over state seats at this point of time by continuously making a ruckus through the press to express their dissatisfaction. “Why are they all jittery about the seats at this moment of time as the state election is still very far away and the state legislative assembly is even dissolved yet? ‘Why was PBB not invited?’ “Why the furore about seats and why was PBB not invited nor approached even if it is to discuss the seats?” Abdul Karim was quoted as saying. He said: “If the merger is aimed to strengthen BN, why was PBB not in the picture. Doesn’t it look stronger if PBB is included together in the ‘merger of the minds’? He said that he was not convinced even though SPDP and PRS youth wings had explained that the reason why PBB was not invited was because the party was not affected in terms of seat allocation. Abdul Karim accused the three parties of being discourteous for not discussing with PBB matters affecting the state BN knowing that PBB is the backbone of the state government. “This is better rather than ‘ganging’ up and telling the world that the three parties in the merger have a total of 36 seats to contest and one seat more than what PBB is contesting.” Abdul Karim’s remarks not only irked both PRS and SPDP, but also seemed to unfurl a ‘patronising’ and ‘bossy’ attitude of PBB towards smaller parties in state BN. In a statement, PRS Youth accused him of being ignorant for not seeing a bigger picture in the context of Dayak politics. “What does he mean by being jittery over Teras issue? Is he not aware that the whole Dayak community is concerned,” asked PRS central youth exco member Bakat Gira. “The Dayak feel that Teras will further split the community which we cannot afford any more. That’s the sentiment and felling on the ground which we cannot just choose to ignore,” he said, pointing out that he did not think that Abdul Karim is too ignorant on not to understand the concept of ‘merger of minds’. “Or is he on fishing expedition to stir the water on the other side of the lake?” he said. Bakat said: “PRS Youth made it very clear that we are only concerned about defending BN against the opposition. Whoever is outside BN is not privileged to carry the BN seats with them when they left the BN coalition. “Does Abdul Karim have an agenda with Teras? Or does he want us to remain insignificant and thus irrelevant? “He seems to be the spokesperson for Teras and we never failed to notice that right from day one. “It is very telling now that he wants to undermine the strength of SPDP, SUPP and PRS. It does not matter if Abdul Karim is not convinced with our explanation but at least the whole community is convinced that there is ulterior motive behind all these,” Bakat said. PRS Youth expressed regret that Abdul Karim as a supreme council member of PBB is not friendly towards his fellow BN components but instead throwing his support to a party that is threatening PRS. “Is that what is called friends?” Bakat asked. Rayan defends ‘merger of minds’ In defending the ‘merger of minds’, SPDP vice-president Rayan Narong asked why Abdul Karim was so concerned about the three parties discussing seat allocations. He said that PBB would also make a ‘ruckus’ if Teras were to claim its seats and because of that Abdul Karim should accept the explanation that PBB was not invited to join the pact. “Being the back bone of the state BN, PBB should have come to the rescue of the three smaller component parties in the face of the threat by Teras, but sadly the party had chosen to remain silent. “But the signals from PBB sent out so far seem to indicate it supported Teras,” said Rayan in a statement. He said: “While we are very thankful that the chief minister for his advice and appreciate that he needs time to decide, but to us there are no two ways about it - we will not give up a single seat to Teras, neither do PRS nor SUPP. On the move by Teras to offload George Lagong (Pelagus assemblyperson), Rayan said that it was a move to split PRS from the pact. “It is a move to ‘divide and rule’, but it will not work because Teras has already shown its true colours by accepting Lagong in the first place. Their ambition is not confined to ousting SPDP and SUPP from the state BN, but also laying claim on PRS territory,” Rayan said, pointing out that the pact was formed to prevent the state BN from breaking up.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 05:34:21 +0000
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