Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas
KUCHING: PBB will convene its supreme council meeting to decide on the application by three former UPP leaders who won as direct BN candidates in the 11th state election to join the party.
However, senior vice president Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, also Deputy Chief Minister, said he could not be certain how soon the meeting would be called.
“We will have to decide a date first. I have called executive secretary of PBB, he confirmed having received application forms from the three.
“First of all, I want to put on record that they decided (to apply to join PBB themselves). There is no compulsion. As far as PBB is concerned, this will be left to the supreme council to decide. So I ask that you all be patient,” he said when met by journalists after former Land Development Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing handed over duty to him at Bangunan Baitul Makmur in Petra Jaya yesterday.
Uggah is also Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy.
The three former UPP leaders who won the election early this month are Datuk Dr Jerip Susil (Mambong), Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa (Engkilili) and Ranum Mina (Opar). Uggah added that whether PBB supreme council decides to accept the three elected representatives it would not change the fact that PBB is already the largest BN component party in the state.
Meanwhile, Masing, who is Deputy Chief Minister and PRS president, said “anybody can go anywhere” when prompted for comments on the same matter. “If they want to join, they have the freedom to go anywhere. Where they want to go, I cannot decide. They decide themselves.” Masing, also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, said it did not matter how many seats PBB had when responding to a question.
“Whether they have 49, 60 or 70, I say it is freedom of choice. If they want to join PBB, so be it. Freedom of association is enshrined in the Federal Constitution, it is allowed.
“Then they have the freedom to decide where they want to go. As I say, it will indicate the type of character they are, where they want to go. I do not want to be the hindrance. That is their freedom, let them decide.”
On Wednesday, PBB executive secretary Awang Bujang Awang Antek told The Borneo Post that the three former UPP leaders had submitted their application forms to PBB.