July 2, 2014
KUCHING: PBB Supreme Council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is surprised that PRS, SUPP and SPDP are jittery over state seats at this point in time.
With the state election still far off, he was baffled that the three BN component parties had continuously made a ruckus through the press to express their dissatisfaction.
“Why are they (PRS, SPDP and SUPP) all jittery about seats at this moment of time. The state election is still very far away and the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) is not even dissolved yet.
“Why the furore about seats at this time and why was PBB not invited or being approached even if it’s to discuss (about) seats?” he argued.
He was responding to a statement by PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing that the ‘merger of minds’ among SUPP, SPDP and PRS was still relevant even though Pelagus assemblyman George Lagong had been offloaded from the Teras bandwagon.
Abdul Karim, who is also Assistant Minister of Housing, 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 minds)?”
The Assistant Minister of Youth Development and Asajaya assemblyman remained unconvinced 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 allocations.
KUCHING: PBB Supreme Council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is surprised that PRS, SUPP and SPDP are jittery over state seats at this point in time.
With the state election still far off, he was baffled that the three BN component parties had continuously made a ruckus through the press to express their dissatisfaction.
“Why are they (PRS, SPDP and SUPP) all jittery about seats at this moment of time. The state election is still very far away and the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) is not even dissolved yet.
“Why the furore about seats at this time and why was PBB not invited or being approached even if it’s to discuss (about) seats?” he argued.
He was responding to a statement by PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing that the ‘merger of minds’ among SUPP, SPDP and PRS was still relevant even though Pelagus assemblyman George Lagong had been offloaded from the Teras bandwagon.
Abdul Karim, who is also Assistant Minister of Housing, 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 minds)?”
The Assistant Minister of Youth Development and Asajaya assemblyman remained unconvinced 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 allocations.
He even said considering that PBB is the backbone party of the state BN, it would definitely be courteous of the three component parties to discuss with PBB matters affecting the state BN or any unhappiness among the component parties.
“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 said PRS’ main reason for being in the ‘merger of minds’ pact seemed to be because of the presence of Lagong during the announcement of the formation of Teras.
“Now that Teras through Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie has stated that George Lagong has been offloaded, it seems that the status quo and reason for the ‘merger’ has not changed. Why?”
Masing, who is Baleh assemblyman, reiterated that the whole idea of setting up the ‘merger of minds’ is to strengthen the BN coalition against threat from the opposition.
“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 said PRS’ main reason for being in the ‘merger of minds’ pact seemed to be because of the presence of Lagong during the announcement of the formation of Teras.
“Now that Teras through Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie has stated that George Lagong has been offloaded, it seems that the status quo and reason for the ‘merger’ has not changed. Why?”
Masing, who is Baleh assemblyman, reiterated that the whole idea of setting up the ‘merger of minds’ is to strengthen the BN coalition against threat from the opposition.
PRS Youth questions Abdul Karim’s motive for making statement
ReplyDeleteJuly 3, 2014
KUCHING: PRS Youth has taken Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah to task for saying that the party, along with fellow Barisan Nasional (BN) components SUPP and SPDP, were making a fuss over seats in the coalition.
Questioning the PBB Supreme Council member’s motive, PRS Youth exco member Cr Bakat Gira said they were concerned that the newly-formed party Teras would further split the Dayak community and erode their support for BN in the next state election.
Bakat, who is also PRS Baleh Youth chief, said it was ignorant of Abdul Karim to make such a statement.
“What does he mean by being too jittery over the Teras issue? Is he not aware that the whole Dayak community is concerned (over this matter)?
“The Dayaks feel that Teras will further split the community which we cannot afford anymore. That’s the sentiment and feeling on the ground which we cannot just choose to ignore,” opined Bakat in a statement to The Borneo Post yesterday.
He was responding to yesterday’s news article in The Borneo Post which reported Abdul Karim as saying that he was baffled that the three BN component parties had continuously made a ruckus through the press to express their dissatisfaction over seat matters considering that the next state election was still far away and that the State Legislative Assembly was not even dissolved yet.
Abdul Karim also questioned why PBB, the backbone of the state BN coalition, was not approached and invited to the ‘merger of minds’.
To this, Bakat said he did not believe that Abdul Karim was not aware of the concept behind the ‘merger of minds’ unless the Asajaya assemblyman was on “on a fishing expedition to stir water on the other side of the lake”.
“PRS has made it very clear that we are only concerned about defending BN against the opposition. Whoever is outside BN is not privileged to carry Barisan seats with them. That is the clear concept of this merger of minds.
“Does (Abdul) Karim have an agenda with Teras? Or does he want us to remain insignificant, thus becoming irrelevant? We can’t help but notice since day one that he seems to have become a spokesperson for Teras. It is very telling now that he wants to undermine the strength of SPDP, SUPP and PRS,” Bakat expounded. He added that it did not matter if Abdul Karim was not convinced with the party’s explanation that PBB was not invited because the party was not affected in terms of seat allocation.
“At least the whole community is convinced that there’s ulterior motive behind all these. We regret that YB Karim, as a supreme council member of PBB, is not friendly towards his fellow BN components but instead throws his support to a party that is threatening us. Is that what friends are called?” Bakat continued.
SPDP veep: State BN must make stand on state seats
ReplyDeleteJuly 3, 2014
KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) vice-president Rayan Narong is surprised that Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Supreme Council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah thinks Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties should not worry about their state seats allocation because the election is still far off.
Rayan was sure PBB would also make a ‘ruckus’ if PartiTenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) were to claim their seats whether the election was near or far off.
He added that the state BN must confirm its seats allocation now and not when the election was round the corner in view of the Teras challenge.
“In the first place the next state election is just two years away and the decision on seats allocation has to be made well before the election so how can it be too early to make our stand on the issue?” Rayan asked in a statement yesterday.
The SPDP vice president added that Karim should accept the explanation that PBB was not invited to join SPDP’s pact with Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) because Teras had not claimed PBB’s seats.
He pointed out that PBB being the backbone of the state BN 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.
Rayan reiterated that the three state BN component parties had always respected PBB as the senior member of the state BN but the signals PBB sent out so far seemed to indicate it supported Teras’ claims on their seats.
“Karim said it would be courteous to invite PBB to join the ‘merger of the mind’ but he avoided explaining PBB’s ‘deafening silence’ over the threat posed by Teras to the three BN component parties.”
Rayan rebutted Karim’s claim that SPDP, PRS and SUPP had not consulted PBB on the predicament they were facing because all the three parties had met Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan who is also the president of PBB Satem over the matter.
“While we are very thankful to 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, Rayan observed it was clearly a move to appease PRS and split its pact with SPDP and SUPP.
“This 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 stressed that PRS, SUPP and SPDP were forced to form the pact to prevent the state BN from breaking up and strengthen the ruling coalition.
Blue Army demands apology from Abdul Karim
ReplyDeleteJuly 4, 2014
KUCHING: The SUPP Blue Army has demanded an apology from PBB Supreme Council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah for his statement that PRS, SPDP and SUPP were making a
fuss over seats allocation when the state election was still far away.
The Blue Army, which represents a new generation in the party and strong campaigners against admission of Teras into BN, expressed in a statement through its leader Milton Foo that there was nothing wrong for these three state BN component parties to reiterate their stand and defend seats that belonged to them.
“As a fellow component party, PBB should voice their support (for the three component parties) rather than to speak for Teras, which is not even a BN coalition party to begin with,” he said, echoing PRS Baleh youth chief Cr Bakat Gira’s statement.
“Datuk Abdul Karim is not ‘friendly’ towards his fellow BN component parties since day one but instead showed his support to Teras, which is a party that threatens the unity of BN.”
With PRS, SPDP and SUPP having made their clear stand against Teras joining BN, Foo called for PBB to announce what their stand was on this.
“Is PBB going to abide by and adhere to the BN rule that if one party disagrees, then no new party shall be admitted into the coalition?” he questioned.