Penghulu Enyang Menchol
SIBU: Several local community leaders here yesterday described Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) as “just another lips service provider” that will in time fizzle out.
They felt that PCM is too small to pose a serious challenge to the Barisan Nasional (BN) government which is synonymous with development and progress now being enjoyed by the people.
Penghulu Enyang Menchol, in an interview with The Borneo Post, said rural folk are wiser now and would not be easily misled into believing that a party without any record to show could compare to the BN.
“The way I see it, they are going fishing and hoping that some would fall for their baits.
But it’s not going to be easy because there is so much that the BN can and will do for the people that will improve their economy and their lifestyle.
The people will not want to lose all that,” Enyang said.
Enyang even voiced his fears that PCM may have a ‘hidden agenda’ which could hurt the state and people if the party is allowed a leeway to pursue this.
“My hope is that even the misled few would soon realise that PCM is a lost cause and they should not waste their time propagating the so-called ‘good things to develop Malaysia’,” Enyang said.
Enyang also said there is no way that PCM could help the people find solutions to problems related to the rights of natives to their customary land or NCL.
“But the BN government not only can solve NCL problems but it also helps find investors so that owners can commercialised their land use,” he said.
At the launch of the first state PCM branch in Ngemah, Kanowit recently, PCM president Tang Weng Chew reportedly said PCM was a bridge for independent Ngemah assemblyman Gabriel Adit Demong to get to the people and those who believed in the struggle of the party to do “good things to develop Malaysia”.
On the state PCM chairman Adit’s statement that the party was eyeing 30 seats mostly in rural areas, Enyang said the assemblyman was free to say anything he liked.
He added: “I don’t think they (PCM) can achieve the target as rural people now can tell who can deliver and who cannot.”
Philip Kayak, a penghulu from Durin, said PCM had set upon themselves a daunting task of eyeing 30 mostly rural seats.
“If you ask me, I will say it is very hard for them to mount a serious challenge to BN.
“BN has proven to be the choice of the people as noother political parties can deliver like they (BN) do,” Philip opined.
According to him, rural people want more development such as better infrastructure, more schools and clinics.
Philip also could not seeany threat from PCM if it should form an alliance with the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Tamin assemblymanJoseph Mauh, meanwhile, said he could not see how PCM could influence the people when it had just set foot on Sarawak soil.
He said even BN, despite its years of growing up together with the people, had to work hard to prove its worth to the people before it could command the people’s respect and trust.
“PCM is really dreaming if it thinks it will get the automatic support of Sarawakians,” Mauh said.