‘PR falls apart, members disillusioned by party leaders’

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KUCHING: Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is tearing apart as far as Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Dato Sri Dr James Masing is concerned.

He said this was because right from the start, PR was not a coalition to serve the people but a partnership of “temporary convenience for themselves”.

Furthermore, with the latest development where Sarawak National Party (SNAP) laid claim to 40 seats, “PR will ‘koyak’ (tear apart)”, he stressed.

It was reported yesterday that SNAP was interested to contest in 40 seats, although it only announced 16 names which it claimed was the first batch.

SNAP president Edwin Dundang Bugak asserted that the party would announce the remaining candidates “at a later date”.

Its partner in PR, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), had wanted to contest in 52 seats.

A Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council member Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, when contacted, said PR was in disarray.

“Definitely the opposition is in disarray. Even before the election, we saw them suing each other (DAP and PKR),” he said, adding that state PKR members were getting disillusioned with Baru Bian (state PKR liaison chief).

According to him, many PKR members were leaving the party to join SNAP and other parties.

The chief political secretary to the chief minister said now that the opposition parties were squabbling over seats, it was clear that the leaders were only crazy for power, without having the welfare of the people in mind.

“Even before forming the government, they are already quarrelling,” said Abdul Karim, who is Barisan Nasional Back Benchers Club (BNBBC) chairman.

The issue was, however, downplayed by both Democratic Action Party (DAP) and PKR.

State DAP chairman Richard Wong Ho Leng said SNAP was free to make the announcement. He pointed out that the seats allocation was still subject to final negotiation.

PKR information chief See Chee How when contacted said the seats announcement by SNAP was just a prelude to the seats negotiation.

He said PKR did not view the announcement as adversarial nor confrontational as this juncture.

“We will sit down and talk and choose the best candidates available to take on Barisan Nasional(BN),” he said.