KUCHING: The so-called supporters of Pelagus assemblyman Larry Sng in Kapit were said to represent the minority.
Their voice did not reflect the true sentiments of the overall Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) members in that constituency.
That was the comment of PRS president Dato Sri Dr James Masing who claimed yesterday that those behind Sng had their own personal agenda and did not represent the majority.
“I know few of the people who were there (at the news conference in Kapit on Thursday). These people depend on Larry for whatever reasons,” said the PRS president.
Masing, who is Land Development Minister, said this in response to statements made by the group at a press conference in Kapit on Thursday.
The group had said they fully supported Sng to become a direct BN member and that folks in Kapit, especially those from Pelagus, still need him.
Sng, who is Assistant Minister in Chief Minister’s Department, won the Pelagus seat in the 2006 state election as a PRS candidate but became partyless after being sacked from the party for insubordination in 2007.
Sng had been in a predicament since, especially when PRS openly and repeatedly stated it had closed its door to him.
Subsequently he faced an uncertain future in his political career.
The direct BN membership would enable him to defend Pelagus seat as a BN candidate though that seems unlikely as Masing had made it clear that Pelagus was a PRS seat, and that they has identified their own candidate for the coming election.
Moreover, the party’s information chief Wilson Nyabong said in a statement released here yesterday: “Acceptance as a BN direct member does not mean the person will be accepted as a direct BN candidate in the election.”
PRS members should not be unduly worried as BN leaders were aware of the various pitfalls of the amendments, he said.
“For instance, if direct BN membership allows members to contest as BN candidates, then it will open a venue for political dissidents or rejects into BN.
“It will be perceived as a back door entry into BN for those who wish to be candidates but cannot go through the normal channel, and this will create more problems rather than solve them,” Nyabong said.