KUCHING: The people must continue to support the Barisan Nasional (BN) because its system of governance is the most suitable for a multi-racial nation like Malaysia.
Dato Sri Dr James Masing
To convince them of this, BN representatives must ‘sell’ it effectively to the people at large, said Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Dato Sri Dr James Masing.
Masing, also Land Development Minister, said in this context politicians are salesmen and if they could not sell the BN brand effectively they ought to be replaced in the next election.
“BN is a brand. We must sell the brand which is BN. BN politicians are just salesmen. If they can’t sell, we change them,” Masing told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He said he shared this view with the diners and members of the media at PRS sixth anniversary dinner at a leading hotel here last Friday night.
On Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) losing eight state seats out of 19 in the last state election, Masing said the party might require “fantastic salesmen for people to buy it again.”
Since the opposition are putting up a more united front for the next election and the polling day is fast approaching, there should be the more reason for BN components to be more aggressive than before, said Masing, the Baleh assemblyman.
PRS lost one out of nine state seats in the May 2006 state election. It lost Ngemah to then independent Gabriel Adit Demong who is now Parti Cinta Malyasia state chairman.
Adit was in fact the incumbent before the last election.
He first won the seat through the now defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak and later joined Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party.
When the BN allocated the seat to PRS, Adit quit SPDP and stood as an Independent.
Political observers were of the opinion that the political confusion surrounding Adit’s status at that time was the root cause of BN-PRS losing the seat.