Salang declines post of deputy tourism minister offered

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Salang

KUCHING: PRS vice-president Datuk Joseph Salang has declined his appointment as Deputy Minister of Tourism.

He told The Borneo Post shortly after Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak unveiled his new cabinet line-up yesterday that he wanted to make way for young blood from his party to be appointed.

“I have been a deputy minister for nine years already, and I feel it is time to make way for young blood from PRS to replace me (in the federal cabinet).

”I will concentrate on my duties as an MP.”

Asked if he would accept if Najib tweaked his cabinet line-up and appoint him a minister, the Julau MP replied: “I will consider it.”

In the last cabinet line-up, Salang was Deputy Minister of Information, Communications and Culture.

Meanwhile, PRS president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing said he had tried to persuade Salang to accept the appointment but to no avail.

“I persuaded him to accept the offer but he refused. I can only empathise with him,” Masing said when contacted.

On PRS deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun’s appointment as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Masing said Entulu accepted it with reluctance.