REMIND....PRS
and SPDP remind Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that the rural vote bank is with
them and if not taken care of, 'somebody will come by and withdraw it'.
By : JOSEPH TAWIE
KUCHING: Bitter Parti Rakyat
Sarawak (PRS) supreme council members today unanimously agreed to reject all
ministerial posts in Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s cabinet.
This means that Joseph
Entulu who was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Joseph
Salang Gandum, a Deputy Minister, will not accept their posts.
A miffed Salang had in fact
already earlier rejected the position.
Parti president James Masing
said majority of the party’s supreme council members had agreed to reject
Najib’s offer and felt that they were 'sidelined' and 'deserved to be treated
better.'
PRS had delivered six
parliamentary seats to Barisan Nasional’s 133 seat tally. They did better than
some BN parties in peninsular who were suitably rewarded.
Without mincing his words
Masing warned Najib not to toy with PRS and Sarawak Progressive Democratic
Party (SPDP) which had been totally ignored despite delivering four
parliamentary seats.
“Don’t try to sideline us
because we have the support of the rural people. It is not a warning.
“It is a fact, in case they
don’t understand that we have six seats and four from Sarawak Progressive
Democratic Party (SPDP).
“PRS and SPDP which are
rural-based parties are not properly treated by the present government.
“The rural areas in Sarawak
are Barisan Nasional ‘fixed deposit’. If you don’t take care of it, somebody
will come by and withdraw it,” warned Masing.
‘Give us appropriate
portfolio’
Masing, who chaired the
emergency supreme council meeting, said majority of the members felt that a
ministerial post in the PM Department was inappropriate for PRS which was a
rural based party.
“Joseph Entulu who was
offered a post of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department sought the advice
of the meeting which agreed that the president would discuss with the Prime
Minister where Entulu should be.
“All the members of the
supreme council are not happy that Entulu is a mere Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department.
“We want the Prime Minister
to give us an appropriate portfolio, the one that could be of assistance to the
rural people, portfolios such as Infrastructure and Agriculture,” he said.
He said the council felt the
same way about Salang’s new position which was deputy minister of tourism.
“Such post is not of any
assistance to the rural people. We just want a portfolio that is of assistance
to the rural people, and not just any position” said Masing.
Masing revealed that the
party was initially offered two deputy ministers’ posts which they felt was an
insult because the party had delivered on its pledge to BN.
But it wasn’t until Masing
informed Najib that PRS felt they were being sidelined and would not attend the
swearing in ceremony that the PM tweaked his list before announcing it on
Wednesday. In the new list, he named Entulu a full minister.
But even this move by Najib
has not appeased the party.
Letter to PM
Asked what would happen if
Najib did not agree to their demands, Masing said that the case would be
brought before the supreme council members for a decision.
“I cannot tell you what the
decision may be,” he added.
Urging those in power to
look at the issue seriously, Masing said that he had written a letter to the
Prime Minister seeking an appointment over their participation in the
government.
“Of course we appreciate and
understand he has the final say as to who should be in his cabinet. But we ask for his kind consideration and
look at us again because we contribute quite substantially to the Barisan
Nasional’s victory.
“The Prime Minister should
not look at what is given to us but he should also look at what is given to the
others.
“We feel that we have been
sidelined,” he said, referring to Sarawak United People’s Party which retained
only one of its seven seats but was given one full minister post.
“We want fairness and
justice,” he added. (FMT)
No comments:
Post a Comment