KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) is convening an emergency supreme council meeting today to discuss among others the recent federal cabinet line-up which the party had not been happy with.
Party president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing revealed that the federal cabinet would take centre stage at the meeting, besides finding out among the party’s Members of Parliament who would be a suitable replacement for Datuk Joseph Salang who had refused his appointment as deputy minister of tourism and culture.
“The issue of the federal cabinet will be among the major issues which will be discussed during the supreme council meeting,” Masing told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
PRS is disappointed that despite its excellent track record of winning all the six seats allocated to it, it has been given only the post of a full minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and a deputy minister in the Tourism and Culture Ministry.
This dissatisfaction has prompted its vice-president Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum to reject the offer and requested the party to recommend a younger MP to take up the post. However, its deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun took up his appointment.
Taking the cue from Masing, PRS Youth chief Datuk Mong Dagang urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to recognise the party’s contribution to Barisan Nasional (BN) with better appointments to the federal cabinet.
He said the appointments seemed to make the party look like it was sidelined.
“It seems the rural-based parties such as PRS and SPDP have been sidelined and not duly recognised through fair representation in the federal cabinet.
“Due recognition should have been accorded to elected representatives representing those two rural-based parties by appointing them to more important positions.
“PRS Youth hopes the prime minster would listen to the voice of the people in the just-concluded general election,” said Mong.
Three other PRS Youth leaders; namely Danny Bungan (PRS Youth publicity chief) Cr Sempurai Petrus Ngelai (PRS Youth vice-chief) and Johny Osman (PRS Baleh deputy Youth chief) also voiced their dissatisfaction.
They demanded that due recognition be given to the party for their undivided loyalty and support to BN.
“With the perfect and convincing winning of the six parliamentary seats allocated to PRS, it is fair enough for PRS MPs to be given more relevant and important portfolios or an extra deputy minister post.
“Two PRS MPs were given unimportant portfolios. We just wonder why?” they pondered.
They further questioned the party’s hierarchy in the ruling coalition.
“With Umno having 88 MPs, PBB (14), MCA (seven) and SPDP (four), it makes PRS the fourth most important partner of BN but yet was given only one full minister and one deputy minister posts,” they lamented.
Meanwhile, a PRS Supreme Council member and a political secretary to the chief minister Dr Richard Wil said the so-called ‘balanced cabinet’ had caught many PRS members by surprise.
“Putting into perspective and comparison, PRS members expected more appointments and better portfolios accorded to the party.
“An acknowledgement of the party’s achievement and contribution in maintaining Sarawak as the ‘fixed deposit’ for BN is very much anticipated.
“Therefore, PRS members are appealing to the prime minister to reconsider and give better portfolios. It is seen by members that the new appointments are nothing better than the previous ones despite the excellent performance by PRS in the just-concluded general election,” added Wil.
In the previous federal cabinet, PRS was allocated two deputy minister’s posts with more important portfolios; namely deputy minister of rural and regional development and deputy minister of information, communication and culture.