Bobby William
SIBU (Jan 9): Parti Bansa Dayak Bersatu Baru (PBDSB) has decided to strengthen its footing by setting up branches in places where they are party veterans to lead them such as in Lubok Antu, said party president Bobby William.
He said this was among the resolutions reached during a meeting at Paramount Hotel here on Friday night.
“When talking about setting up branches, it doesn’t mean that we are putting up fight against the present government or Pakatan Harapan. We are putting down roots.
“My message to our fellow Dayak is that PBDSB has never intended to replace any Dayak party such as Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS). We are on our own. Both parties are offshoots of now defunct PBDS,” he said.
Bobby hoped that he would have the opportunity to meet PRS acting president Datuk Joseph Salang to discuss issues affecting the Dayaks
“I personally hope that, I will have the opportunity to see eye-to-eye with Datuk Joseph Salang, there are too many issues affecting the Dayaks that need a roundtable discussion.
“We the Dayaks, the Dayak politicians need to groom younger Dayaks to be future leaders where we are lacking of today. We need to develop human capital amongst the Dayaks,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the party has conducted a post-mortem and identified various weaknesses as well as shortcomings that contributed to the its poor achievement during the just concluded 12th state election.
“The delegates regarded the defeat of all it candidates as a great beginning. The party is racing against the time as it has just been re-installed in August 2020. If we were given more space (time), I am very sure the party would have performed much better.
“Moreover, all eleven candidates contested using their own funds with limited resources from the party. So this is a clear proof that PBDSB is a genuine Dayak political party which does not have any sponsor.” he added.
Bobby was glad to note that members who attended the event also pledged their commitment to support the party financially and physically during future elections.
In conjunction with the meeting, he said the party also launched the Dayak Education Trust Fund to help the needy young Dayaks and students who need help especially those who wish to pursue their higher education studies.
Noting that the initiative was mooted by the party and supported by the public and party members, he said the funds would be managed by the party’s property officials and a supreme council member as a coordinator.