KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Supreme Council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is puzzled by the omission of PBB in the “merger of the minds” announced by presidents of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).
“My only puzzle is why PBB was not invited to be together in this merger (of the mind). Maybe some leaders do not see PBB as relevant anymore and do not fit into their so called merger (of the mind).
“I am unsure of what this ‘merger of minds’ as announced by the three BN component leaders are. They would be in better position to answer what is this merger of mind,” he said in statement to The Borneo Post yesterday.
Karim was referring to the meeting among Tan Sri Peter Chin (SUPP president), Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (SPDP interim president) and Masing (PRS president) during a closing of the Gawai Dayak celebration at Masing’s residence, here on Saturday evening.
They announced at a joint press conference that they had teamed up in defending their seats allocation in the BN from being taken over by new party Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) after 10 elected representatives from SUPP, SPDP and Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) quit their parties to join Teras on May 15.
On May 16, the 10 elected representatives met state BN chairman and Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem to pledge their allegiance to the BN despite having left their BN component parties.
Last Saturday Masing said PRS was allocated by the BN nine state seats while SUPP (19) and SPDP (8) which means the three parties would be contesting in 36 seats in the next state election.
However, Teras now holds 10 state seats, PRS (8), SUPP (2) while SPDP does not have any state seats. The rest of the state seats are being held by opposition parties DAP (11), PKR (3) and SWP (1).
Masing stressed that elected representatives who won their state seats under SUPP and SPDP should have the moral to resign when they left their parties.
Teras boasts of having two full fledged ministers and four assistant ministers in the state cabinet although the party is not a BN component party.
‘PBB not invited because Teras does not claim its seats’
ReplyDeletePosted on June 25, 2014, Wednesday
KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP)P formed the ‘merger of the minds’ pact to defend the seats allocated to them by state Barisan Nasional (BN) against claims by Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) elected representatives.
As such, there was no need for Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) to be in the pact because Teras was not claiming any of its seats, PRS Youth said in a statement to The Borneo Post here yesterday.
“Our president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing used the ‘Ngiling Tikai’ (closing of Gawai celebration) as an occasion to get the three BN component parties affected by Teras to be seen together publicly for the first time as a sign of unity of purpose.
“PBB is left out on purpose as its seats are not affected in any way. For the record, some PBB ministers and even elected representatives were invited but time was not suitable for them to come,” read the statement.
It said it was unfortunate that PBB supreme council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah had questioned the rationale behind the meeting dubbed as the ‘merger of minds’.
Abdul Karim had told The Borneo Post on Monday that he was puzzled by the omission of his party in the ‘merger of the minds’ as announced by the presidents of the three parties.
Abdul Karim was referring to the meeting between Tan Sri Peter Chin (SUPP president), Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (SPDP interim president) and Masing (PRS president) during the closing of Gawai Dayak celebration at Masing’s residence here on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, PRS deputy Youth chief Cr Sempurai Petrus Ngelai in his statement urged Abdul Karim not to overact to the current happening, saying the main reason for the ‘merger of the minds’ was to strengthen the three BN component parties so that they could deliver the allocated seats for BN in the coming state election.
“We never abandon nor leave out our coalition partners in defending BN against the opposition. So any feeling of being omitted or left out is considered merely a personal perception and speculation. All the BN component parties are still very much relevant to defend their seats from the threat of the opposition,” said Sempurai.
On May 16, 10 elected representatives met state BN chairman and Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem to pledge their allegiance to BN despite having left their respective BN component parties to join Teras.
Masing had said with PRS allocated nine seats by BN, SUPP (19) and SPDP (8), it would mean the three parties would be contesting in 36 seats in the next state election.
For PRS, its affected seat is Pelagus, while SPDP’s affected seats are Tasik Biru, Pakan, Batu Danau, Marudi and Bekenu. On the other hand, SUPP’s affected seats are Opar, Bengoh, Engkilili and Bawang Assan.
Presently, Teras holds 10 state seats, PRS eight, SUPP two while SPDP does not have any state seat. The rest of the state seats are held by opposition parties DAP (11), PKR (3) and SWP (1).
Teras also boasts of having two full-fledged ministers and four assistant ministers in the state cabinet although the party is still outside BN.
PBB left out as it is not threatened by Teras, explains SPDP
ReplyDeleteJune 26, 2014, Thursday
KUCHING: SPDP said PBB was not invited to join its pact with SUPP and PRS because PBB was not on a collision course with Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras).
Responding to PBB Supreme Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah’s statement on Tuesday questioning why leave PBB was left out of the ‘merger of the minds’ agreement among the three BN component parties, SPDP Youth chief Robert Ayu said there was no need to involve PBB as Teras was not targeting their seats.
The merger of the minds is solely intended to defend and protect BN and was not in any way aimed at antagonising PBB, he added.
However, Robert said it was strange for Karim to pose that question when PBB had not uttered a single word of support for the three BN parties when their seats were threatened by Teras, which intends to apply to join the BN family soon.
“We thought PBB, being the biggest BN component party in the state, should have taken the lead in protecting any of the state BN component party that is under threat from a party that is outside BN. Datuk Karim must not just look at it from his point of view only, but rather PRS, SUPP and SPDP’s point of view as they are the affected parties.”
With regards to Karim’s statement that PRS, SUPP and SPDP might no longer view PBB as relevant to them, Robert said the three parties had always respected PBB as the biggest component party in the state BN and integral in their political agenda.
The SPDP Youth chief said PRS, SPDP and SUPP were forced to wonder if they are relevant to PBB now as they (PBB) seemed to forsake the three parties in their hour of need.
“In fact, we are beginning to believe that PBB now no longer sees our parties as relevant to their political agenda. By their silence, over the Teras issue, it seems PBB is now willing to abandon PRS, SUPP and SPDP in exchange for Teras.”
The SPDP Youth added if any party were to claim PBB’s seats allocation PRS, SUPP and SPDP would have stated their support loud and clear and defended PBB to the hilt.
“We strongly uphold the BN spirit of working together and supporting each other and we are very disappointed PBB has kept quiet so far.”