SIBU: SPDP’s resolution to work towards a merger with fellow BN component party PRS is worth exploring.
“If both parties agree to it, why not?” PRS deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He was reacting to a statement issued by the SPDP Supreme Council that SPDP would seriously reach out to PRS to fulfil the joint proposal made by the two parties some years ago.
The statement added that SPDP was happy with their present relationship with PRS, especially through the ‘merger of mind’ agreement.
This merger proposal first surfaced in 2005, followed by both parties forming committees for merger talks.
Two years later, it was reported that several names were agreed upon for the merged entity. However, it was later reported that the merger talks was off because a certain ‘personality’ was against it.
The proposal had been left in the backburner since then.
But it resurfaced after SPDP president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing appeared with PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing at a joint press conference on June 21 last year to announce a ‘merger of the minds’ between SPDP, PRS and SUPP in facing the next state election.
In July last year, during a unity lunch in Sg Moyan near Kuching, Tiong said he was open to work together with PRS in any way that could strengthen both parties.
He added that SPDP now had a positive feel following the departure of several leaders for Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras).
Meanwhile, Masing recently stated that state BN component parties still subscribed to the ‘merger of minds’, a notion that they had each other to watch out for ‘outside forces’.
The PRS president said they were still interested in the pursuit of merger of minds among the four BN component parties of Sarawak.
Masing pointed out that they would work together to ensure they were not disturbed by forces from outside.