Masing delivering his presidential speech at the PRS 13th anniversary dinner at Sri Aman last night. — Photo by Churchill Edward
SRI AMAN: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Masing last night affirmed his party stand in recommending one or two women as parliamentary candidates to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election (or PRU14)
He said PRS also aimed to break the tradition of any Dayak party by fielding the first woman as BN parliamentary as well as state election candidate for the BN.
He said PRS has already made history by allowing Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie as deputy president of the the Senate before.
Masing who is also Deputy Chief minister said the BN criteria for nominating candidate is not simply based on winnability as there are other factors to be considered as equally important. One of them is loyalty to party and BN coalition, he pointed out.
“It is not always the case that winnability is the only factor. If it is, then why were Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir not renominated? This shows loyalty is equally important as winnability. And because they were rude, they even got terminated,” said Masing when officiating at PRS 13th anniversary celebration dinner organised by PRS Women led by Doris at a hotel here last night.
The most notable absentees from the dinner were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun (PRS deputy president and Selangau MP) and Lubok Antu MP Datuk William Nyallau Badak (PRS supreme council member).
Masing reminded members that PRS has its own system in selecting candidates to defend its six parliamentary seats for the BN.
He explained that it is important for PRS state elected representatives within the PRS-held parliamentary seats endorsed the nominees for parliamentary election before writing to him for his consideration, he said.
Doris who is political secretary to Chief Minister emphasised on loyalty, teamwork and commitment as factors of party unity.