PSB: Stop complaining, listen to your party leaders

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Parti Sarawak Bersatu logo

KUCHING: The lower echelon leaders of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) who have complained in the press lately about Sri Aman MP Datuk Masir Kujat leaving to join Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) should heed what their presidents have said, PSB said in a statement today.

Both PRS Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing and SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian have reportedly stated that, “in a democracy, any member can leave at any time he wishes”.

On top of that, PSB said those who complain stridently about Masir leaving PRS should look to their management of their own party.

“What has happened to cause disillusionment amongst its leaders or members? Loyalty must be earned and should never be taken for granted,” read the press statement issued by the party secretariat.

PSB said it cannot be gainsaid that Masir was not happy in PRS.

“Those within PRS are fully acquainted with that fact. They know why he wanted to leave. The only issue is this: is it better for Sarawak and the present government that Datuk Masir joins PSB or joins PH (Pakatan Harapan)?

“We accepted Datuk Masir because we believe that the interests of Sarawak would be best served by him joining us rather than for him to join PH. In effect, we kept Datuk Masir from PH. Is that a disservice to Sarawak?”

Masir himself has come out to justify his position in PRS-PSB saga, with the former Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) vice president saying he was already partyless after resigning from PRS before deciding to join either any of the Pakatan Harapan component parties or PSB.

“I am issuing this press statement in answer to the many statements by leaders of PRS attacking my decision to join PSB. I resigned from PRS before I joined PSB.

“My reason for resigning from PRS is well known to the leaders in PRS. Any PRS leader who claims to be ignorant of my reasons for leaving is not being candid,” said Masir.

In response to the many press statements issued by PRS leaders, PSB pointed out that the recent parties that joined the party were Datuk Joseph Entulu and his supporters, Datuk Masir Kujat and other Dayak leaders like Datuk Sylvester Entrie and Banyi Beriak.

“The latter two (Entrie and Banyi) are independent and are surely free to join any party they wish. As for Entulu and his followers, it is well-known that they were sacked by a special committee of PRS on the eve of nomination day in the last parliamentary general election. PRS clearly no longer wanted Entulu and his supporters.”

With regard to SUPP, PSB stated that it is a known fact that they have been at loggerheads with UPP (now PSB) since the formation of the party.

“However, it must be pointed out that, to date, no leader of SUPP has joined PSB although a newspaper report speculated that Dato Sri Richard Riot may be considering such a move, a report that SUPP secretary general Datuk Sebastian Ting immediately dismissed the next day.

“Even if Dato Sri Riot does leave SUPP, we need only refer to a report of a statement by SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian – ‘On the possibility of Riot leaving the party due to dissatisfaction, Dr Sim said Sarawak practises democracy and any member can leave any party when they chose to’.”

“SUPP’s war with UPP is public knowledge when they openly fielded candidates bearing SUPP and BN banners in the last state election against BN direct candidates from UPP. We have plenty of photographic and video evidence which were given to then Chief Minister the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem to show that a component party SUPP openly campaigned against BN candidates but his advice then was ‘the election is over, let’s just move on’.”

As for PDP, PSB said as to the party’s knowledge, no leader from PDP has joined PSB.

“As we stated in a previous press release, PDP’s state assemblymen left PDP and eventually joined Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB). PDP’s grievances are not with us.”