[RE: DAYAK COMMUNITY MUST WAKE UP, SAYS MINOS – BORNEO POST 31.05.12]

The lamentation by Peter Minos viz: (quote) “with so many parties and leaders, many of my KL friends are saying that the Dayak are asking for trouble and heading for self-destruction”  is a display of archaic mentality, one trying to portray nothing more and nothing less he is supporting UMNO.

To “his UMNO mates were of the opinion that the Dayaks would bemoan and complain about everything” Peter Minos and those thinking like him should better realize it that indeed the Dayaks are complaining, and rightly so.

Yes, complain we must. Given the fact that Malaysia, after almost 50 years of formation, has not brought about better changes to the people of Sarawak, and let alone to the Dayaks, there is nothing wrong in complaining and bemoaning.

The people want the promises of Malaysia which, for the majority of them, are yet unrealized, unfullfilled.

The rights under article 153, benefits to the bumiputras, which term should include Dayaks, in term of ranking appointments in civil service, GLCs, and other Government Agencies, Army and Police, in foreign service, and contracts, licences, quotas, timber concession, land, scholarships,  and many more have not been accorded us.  In the civil service, army and police the Dayaks are mostly of junior rank.

Peter Minos asking of the Dayak community to emulate the Melanau that “had fully utilized political unity” and “making a success in their social and economic development” is very pathetic while unrealistic.

The reality in its proper prospective is the fact that the State of Sarawak has been led, after Kalong Ningkan was toppled and after a short stint of Tawi Sli, by two (2) successive Chief Ministers, Tun Rahman Yakub followed by Pehin Sri Taib, for the better part of almost five (5) decades since Independence.

Both are Melanau although they would probably prefer to be called “Malay”.  From these facts the Melanau Community can be better appreciated in term of “their social and economic development”. The all-powerful office of the Chief Minister has been seeing to it how Sarawak is developed over the years.

The fact that (or if) Dayaks are in so many political parties is not necessary a bad thing. In fact Pehin Sri Taib referring to Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) he said “the more the merrier”. 

And when he was asked if he considered it an act of betrayal for Larry Sng, who is special advisor (Youth Matters) to lead an opposition party, he replied that was not the case because the country practiced democracy and “everyone has the right to form a party”. 

And when “Barisan Club” was formed by the defected former members of SPDP, Pehin Sri Taib was reported to have said that “they are still supporting Barisan by being in Barisan Club” and “that is what matters”. 

So who is Peter Minos who all the years has expressed full complete loyal support to Pehin Sri Taib as Chief Minister of Sarawak to question the “Group of 5” that started the Barisan Club.

Peter Minos’s call for the Dayak community to be under one party and under one leader is ‘utopian’.  It cannot be achieved. Rather more political parties will see Dayaks becoming their members will be on the card, moving forward. Nothing is wrong in that. 

Like Pehin Sri Taib was reported to have said in referring to SWP that “the people will make their choice”. And one thing is true the Dayaks will keep on asking for more. Sarawak has contributed a lot to the Federal Revenue.

Example: our oil and gas and our tax revenue. And returned each year to us is very small amount. And all of that goes to SCORE and to the other of Chief Minister’s pet projects.   And despite Dayaks are well represented in Barisan, the larger of the community is not served well. Our NCR lands remain untitled, unsurveyed, and unalienated, and otherwise state land.

When these lands are resumed by State Government “for public purposes” the compensated values are very small compared to that of a mixed zone land in a same locality which normally could fetch very high and current market prices.  Their participation in land development schemes through SALCRA and Pelita has brought very marginal returns.

Otherwise in truth our community has been fending for themselves.  Maybe as apparent in the state of things, due to the blind loyal support given to Barisan Nasional all these years what the Dayaks get are no more than in the form of minor rural projects, which mostly would come during the period preceding election times only.

Another thing is also true: that is despite the diversity of parties and the Dayaks are found in almost all of them, the Dayaks are still united. In particular in their quest for better representation in government, better share of the bite of the economic cake, and for the right to be heard of their quests as such.

Like they did not weep when Peter Minos was defeated when he tried to bring PBB to Bau and was defeated by Patau Rubis of SNAP in 1983 general election, the Dayak community including those in Bau and Lundu will survive the coming GE13.

STAR will offer itself likewise other parties and including maybe a member of the “Gang of 5”, and or maybe DAP and PKR as well.  Rest assured, like Pehin Sri Taib has said it “the people will make their choice”.

And Peter Minos is better advised to not to be in haste to praise everything of “UMNO”. And certainly it is not for him to call upon the Dayaks to support or emulate of those Malays in Malaya that support UMNO. This time is not opportune. UMNO has nothing to offer to the Dayaks because in Sarawak the Chief Minister is from PBB. And UMNO will not contest in Sarawak as well.

Patrick Anek Uren

Vice-President STAR

Dayak union rejects Masing, Jabu

The 100,000-strong Dayak union has justified its decision to elect SPDP president William Mawan as its new president.

KUCHING: Fed up with Senior Minister James Masing’s disinterest in their affairs, the 100,000- strong members of Sarawak Dayak National Union recently rejected his presidency and elected instead his arch political rival William Mawan.

According to the union’s deputy president John Anthony Brian, Masing, who is also State Land Development Minister, had never responded to the union’s invitation to be its patron of its functions nor has he contributed to SDNU’s coffers.

“We often invited him, but he failed to respond to our invitation to be a patron of a Gawai Dayak function, not to mention donating funds to SDNU.

“He just refused to respond to the union’s functions. So how could the union members want him to be their president?” asked Brian, adding that members themselves were clueless as to what Masing was thinking.

Brian was responding to Masing’s statement that a full-time politician should not be elected as SDNU president.

This, however, did not stop members from voting in Mawan, who is Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president.

Mawan was elected unopposed as president of the 66-year-old union, which is one of the most influential Dayak NGOs in the state. Kapit MP, Alexander Nanta Linggi, was elected deputy president.

Masing, who is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, is rumoured to be miffed by the turn of events. But the union feels that Mawan’s election is justified.

‘Interfering wife of a leader’

Mawan is not only committed to the cause of the Dayaks, but has never failed to attend its functions, Brian said, adding that he even donated some funds to the union.

“We had a discussion among our members and decided to approach Mawan to be our president, and he accepted our invitation.

“We have willingly accepted a new leader to take over the union, especially someone like Mawan. We believe Mawan can help solve some of the problems like restarting the stalled the Rumah Dayak project as well as some other projects which the union has proposed to build on its own land.

“Our projects had also been cancelled even after agreements were signed just because a wife of a senior Dayak minister had complained to the State Planning Authority not to entertain our proposals,” Brian said.

Although he did not name the person, it was learnt that the “wife” is Empiang Jabu. Empiang is the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Anak Numpang. She is also the president of Sarawak Indu Dayak Sarawak (SIDS).

On why SDNU had not approached Jabu to helm the union, Brian said that Jabu had always been critical of the union since the time it was headed by Daniel Tajem, former president of the defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak in the early 1980s.

“Jabu is not the right person. He has been criticising nearly all Dayak non-governmental organisations.

“So instead of uniting the Dayaks, especially the Ibans, Jabu keeps them away from the union,” said Brian.

‘Dayak unity elusive’

Meanwhile, Masing said that it was not wise for active politicians to head the union because their inherent enemies would tend to follow them wherever they went.

“Because of this, unity is an elusive dream,” he said.

He said that he had been approached to head the union, but had to reject it.

However, Masing gave an assurance that he would assist the union behind the scene if needed.

In his acceptance speech, Mawan called on members to cast aside past problems and political affiliations so that the union could move forward.

“Unity must prevail and past issues should never be allowed to become distractions. Now is the time to uphold the spirit of working together and moving forward,” he said.

Source: Free Malaysia Today

It’s time for a United Dayak Front

(Taken from Free Malaysia Today)

By Joseph Tawie

January 6, 2012

As Sabah's Jeffrey Kitingan seals his cross-border Borneo Agenda with the launch of the Sabah Chapter of Star, Senior Minister James Masing issues his own call in Kuching.

KUCHING: With the 13th general election looming somewhere in the near horizon, Sabah and Sarawak are turning into a cauldron of political activity.

Whichever direction the political wind blows in the peninsular, the kingmakers will be Sabah and Sarawak, although prevaling speculations are that Umno is banking more on Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s delivery of the clinching numbers that would seal its continued hold on Putrajaya.

Whilst today sees the launch of the Sabah chapter of the once dormant Sarawak Reform Party (STAR) and Jeffrey Kitingan taking his Borneo Agenda literally to the battle front, here in Sarawak Senior Minister James Masing is testing the waters with his own call for a United Dayak Front (UDF).

A United Dayak Front would be a merger of Masing’s Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) with Dayak-based Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Sarawak National Party (SNAP). Ironically both PRS and SPDP are off-shoots of SNAP.

SPDP was formed in 2002 and PRS in 2004.

SNAP in 1970s was one of the strongest parties in Malaysia with 18 state and nine parliamentary seats. The late James Wong who was SNAP deputy president was one time made the parliamentary leader of the opposition.

SNAP however went through a period of upheaval and has only just returned to the political scene with nothing but a pedigree to tout.

Risky call

But a United Dayak Front is a somewhat risky call for Masing, who is PRS president.

Because a united Dayak community will undermine Taib’s power in the state and his clout in Kuala Lumpur. There also exists a fear that an angry Taib can allegedly be ‘very vengeful’.

And there is also now new possibilities with the revelation that the Sarawak BN actually has a fifth ally – Barisan Nasional Party (BNP, registered in 1974 ).

But Masing, knowing the risks and odds, is undaunted and wants to move but ‘with care’.

Speaking to FMT recently he said: “I am very serious about forming a united Dayak front, but we have people who may feel uneasy of such a Dayak front. Why? I can’t understand it.

“So we must move with clear objectives and with care.”

Masing, who is also State Minister of Land Development, believes a united Dayak community will greatly benefit Barisan Nasional in the next parliamentary election; and of course his own political credentials vis-a-vis ties with Kuala Lumpur.

Of particular concern to him is the rural constituencies. In the April 16 state polls, there was a marked swing in voter support for the opposition in the urban fringes and in rural areas. Masing believes that only united Dayak groups can deliver for BN in these areas.

Development in stages

Currently, two of Sarawak BN allies – Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) and SPDP – are in dire straits.

SUPP is under investigations by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for alleged breaching of its rules and regulations during the party’s branch elections last month.

It is very likely the party will be deregistered.

The party has four Dayak assemblymen. They are Ranum Mina (Opar), Jerip Susil (Bengoh), Francis Harden (Simanggang), and Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili) and one MP in Richard Riot. Riot who is deputy foreign minister, is also MP for Serian.

Masing suggested that the merger could be done in stages.

“For a start, maybe the sacked SPDP vice-president Sylvester Entri, who state assemblyman for Marudi and the other four SPDP ‘outcasts’ could be part of the merger.

“Then later on we can include others, and the whole idea is to consolidate the Barisan Nasional especially in the rural areas in the coming election,” he said.

The four ‘outcasts’ are Peter Nansian, Tasik Biru Assemblyman, Tiki Lafe, MP for Mas Gading, Rosey Yunus, Bekenu assemblywoman and Paulus Gumbang, Batu Danau Assemblyman.

(It is understood they have been given show-cause letters and their fate with the party will be decided later this month)

Dayaks currently deprived

The idea of merger between PRS and SPDP was mooted in 2005 and had at that time the strong support of Taib but for some reason was opposed by certain non-Dayak members in the two parties. So the idea of a merger was put on hold.

But post 2008 general election and more so after the recent state polls, real or perceived threats from the peninsular have seen shifts in the local political front.

Taib, in his latest state Cabinet reshuffle, sidelined the Dayaks from outside his Pesaka Bumipiutera Bersatu party. Although he ‘promoted’ Masing and SPDP president William Mawan to Senior Ministers, he left them with little or no clout.

Meanwhile, a number of Dayak politicians and businessmen have expressed support for Masing’s proposed merger of Dayak political parties as this will further strengthen the voice of the Dayak community.

One ardent supporter of such a move is Joseph Allen, a former PRS supreme council member and a businessman in Sarikei.

“Look at PBB, it is a strong and united party. All the big projects and contracts go to them. That is the benefits they have for being united.

“And look at the Dayak community. We have been looked down. Our officers in the civil service are not given promotions; our businessmen are not given big contracts and government projects; our children are not given places in universities and given scholarships.

“Our native customary rights lands are taken away from us, and yet we cannot do anything. This is the price we pay for being disunited.

“Dayaks must support Masing in his efforts to unite us so that we cannot be bullied anymore, because when we are united, we will be strong and be respected by others,” Allen said.

United Dayak Front

According to him Dayaks were greatly respected during the time of Stephen Kalong Ningkan (Sarawak’s first Chief Minister from September 1963 to September 1966).

“Our soldiers shone during the confrontation and communist insurgency. Many received gallantry awards and medals. Today nobody recognises what you are doing,” he said.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and president of the defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) Daniel Tajem said that it is a good idea to unite all the Dayaks, but those who join it should not have any personal agenda.

“Personal agenda will destroy the whole thing as it happened to the deregistered PBDS and to Sarawak National Party,” he said.

Masing, he said, should initiate a meeting to discuss the United Dayak Front (UDF) and invite all Dayaks irrespective of their political leaning and affiliation including those from PBB to attend the meeting.

“After all he has the resources and government facilities. And let us see how many are going to attend the meeting,” Tajem said, pointing out that a special committee should be set up to study further the proposal.

Gawai Dayak Greetings from The Broken Shield

Jetty (JT) and family and the administrator of The Broken Shield would like to wish all the readers of The Broken Shield “Selamat Gawai Dayak, Gayu-guru, Gerai-nyamai, chelap-lindap, betuah-belimpah, pidik-langsik bulih duit, bulih ringgit, bulih laki, bulih bini, bulih anak, bulih telesak.”

Jetty and family will celebrate Gawai at their Kpg. Sungai Semabang, Simunjan. All are welcome to our humble house.
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The Gawai of Goodwill

Jetty and Datuk Daniel Tajem posing for a photograph with a Dayak warrior (second from right)

On 19 May 2010, a 21-member delegation of Dayak and Kadazandusun communities left Kuching for Pontianak as guests of Majlis Adat Dayak Kalimantan Barat which was celebrating its 25th anniversary of Gawai Dayak.

The visit was also to reciprocate the visit made by the Indonesian Dayaks to the SDNU Gawai on 15 May in Kuching.

Two young Dayak girls performing a welcoming dance

The leader of the delegation was Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, chairman of the Borneo Forum. Also in the delegation was Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem, a member of the Forum and SDNU exco members including secretary general Joshua Jabing and Publicity chief Dr. Dusit Jaul.

We left Kuching at 10.30 a.m. and arrived at Pontianak at 8.30 p.m. after a tedious and tiring journey snaking through a narrow and winding road. On arrival at the newly built hotel, Mercure Hotel, which I was given to understand belongs to the Fullman group of hotels, we were received by our hosts. After checking in, we were entertained to a most sumptuous dinner of Dayak cuisine by the chairman of State Legislature, West Kalimantan, Bapak Vincent.

Guests from Sarawak and Sabah on arrival at the opening of the Gawai Dayak ceremony in Pontianak

Next day, we witnessed the opening of Gawai Dayak 25th anniversary celebration by the Governor of West Kalimantan Drs. Cornelis. Apart from us, there were top Dayak leaders, senior army and police officers, civil servants and other community leaders present at the ceremony.

It was a very colourful opening ceremony where young Dayak maidens proudly displayed their beauty clothed in their traditional attires and at the same time show-casing their “ngajat”. But the most breath-taking performance was done by two Dayak “Panglima” warriors, who after going into trance, started to do unthinkable things such as eating a live chicken and cutting themselves with razor-sharp parang ilang.

Two warriors demonstrating that they are knife-proof

To me and many others it was such a bizarre and scary performance to see.

Nevertheless, they say that the two were among the seven warriors who were most feared during the height of “Madura-Dayak ” clash 10 years ago in Kalimantan Tengah.

According to their story, the seven warriors were invincible and their parangs, like Chinese heroes in Chinese films, were only seen cutting the heads of their enemies.

Indonesian Dayak cultural dancers

The trouble with Madurese began when they became very aggressive and did not respect the rights of the Dayaks and seized their lands. The Dayaks could no longer tolerate the visitors. So trouble blew up between them.

According to them, the Dayaks in Sampit, Kalimantan Tengah were on the verge of surrender when the seven warriors from Pontianak came to help them. The Madurese were not only defeated, but hundreds of them were killed. That was their story.

By tracing these historical events, though unpleasant, I do not intend to play up this racial issue on this Gawai of Goodwill, but to perhaps learn a lesson or two from this tragedy for the good of all.

Now coming back to the gawai in Pontianak, I notice there are considerable and tangible changes among the Dayaks of West Kalimantan. I was here more than 10 years ago.

Today, some of the Dayaks occupy positions of authority in the State government of West Kalimantan with the governor who is like the position of our chief minister in Sarawak taking the lead. A Dayak Kanto, Barcunda Sturjaya, SH, MM is deputy manager, PT. Bank Central Asia Tbk and his wife Ir. Anna Veridiana Iman Kalis, another Dayak, is head of Economic and Development Bureau. The two are an example of how progressive are the Indonesian Dayaks nowadays.

West Kalimantan Dayaks started to have “freedom” 25 years ago during the regime of General Suharto. Under Soekarno, the Dayaks were suppressed, oppressed and marginalized and even treated like slaves. Their lands were seized by the government and given to Madurese under the government transmigration policy.

Now under President Bambang Susilo, the Dayaks have now recovered their own land where they have planted rubber, pepper, padi and even oil palm.

One thing that is very obvious is that the Dayaks of Indonesian Borneo comprising some 350 ethnic groups with a population of more than 14 million are fully united. They have now elected their own governor for West Kalimantan and another in Central Kalimantan.

Next day (21 May), Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan and Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem discussed with their Indonesian counterparts the proposed Borneo Forum, the objective of which is to strengthen the cultural ties of the Dayaks of Borneo.

The next meeting will be held in Kuching in July and to be followed by the official launch of the Forum.

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The following was an interview with Dr. Kitingan. (The story was first published by The Free Malaysia Today on 24 May. It is reproduced here for the benefit of readers of the Broken Shield).

PONTIANAK: A Kadazandusun leader, Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan has called for greater cultural and social interactions between the Dayaks of West Kalimantan and Sabah and Sarawak as these will be the beginning of many things to come.

“These (interactions) will be helpful for the future,” he said.

Kitingan was speaking at a dinner hosted by Dewan Adat Dayak of West Kalimantan in Pontianak on Wednesday night.

Kitingan led a 25-member delegation from Sabah and Sarawak to the Pontianak as guests of the Gawai Dayak festival held in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of its celebration.

Among those in the delegation were Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem and officials of the Sarawak Dayak National Union.

Apart from attending the opening of Gawai Dayak by the Governor of West Kalimantan Drs. Cornelis on 20 May, Kitingan and Tajem also attended discussions on the set up of Borneo Forum with their counterparts.

The forum which will be officially launched in Kuching later this year will be the vital link that unites the Dayaks of Borneo through culture.

In an exclusive interview with the Free Malaysian Today, Kitingan who is also the Forum chairman said their visit to Pontianak was very significant.

“Now we are connected and we feel we belong to one people. We need and agree to work together,” he said.

“Our visit here, I think, is very important motivation. It will be the beginning of many things to come,” he added.

On calls by the leaders of Dewan Adat Dayak for one Borneo, One Dayak, One culture, Kitingan said: “I think we all agree on that. The meaning is more than that.

“The immediate focus is on unity through culture, because it cuts across boundary. Our networking, friendship and the rest will develop from here,” he said.

Kitingan described the forum as very important to create one Borneo-wide vehicle to map-out what the thing we can do immediately, in the long term or in the in medium term.

“I think a lot more interactions and communication can be developed, and for sure we can link up economically through business and many potential opportunities of cooperation.

“We have culture, environment, the economy and the indigenous rights. All these will automatically develop from here,” he said, pointing out that the Dayaks of Borneo have rich culture that can be marketed to the world.

“It is important that we market our culture together,” he stressed.

Are Dayak leaders prepared to merge?

KUCHING – Are Dayak-based parties and Dayak leaders prepared to merge to form one single entity? Or do they dare to merge?

These are the questions posed by Tedewin Ngumbang, a supreme council member of Parti Rakyat Sarawak.

Writing in his blog, The Borneo Warrior, Tedewin said: “Dayak leaders in Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak, Pesaka and Sarawak United People’s Party should come together and form a merged entity.

“Don’t think only about Dayak leaders in SPDP and PRS. James Masing, PRS president and William Mawan, SPDP president are not the only Dayak leaders.

“There are Dayak leaders in PESAKA and SUPP such as Alfred Jabu, Michael Manyin, Douglas Uggah, Alexander Nanta Linggi (all from PBB), Jerip Susil, Francis Harden, Ranum Mina and Richard Riot from SUPP,” he said.

“I challenge them if they dare to come out from their respective parties and form a bigger union of Dayak party.

“If this can be done, the Dayaks can become a very strong and formidable political force and can afford to choose whether to support BN or PR,” he said, urging PESAKA which forms the Dayak branch of PBB since January 1973 to detach itself from PBB and join the merger.

“Are they daring enough to come together and form one single party?’ he asked.

Tedewin, a confidant of Masing, made those remarks after a PBB leader poking fun at PRS and SPDP over the merger between the two parties.

The merger proposal was suggested by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud four years ago in order to strengthen the Dayak political unity and struggle.

But until now the merger remains an illusive dream as both sides are rather hesitant on the move.

Few issues need to be solved such as the question of leadership and Chinese membership in the new entity.

SPDP did not discuss the merger issue during its last month’s triennial general assembly.- The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Will merger between SPDP and PRS bring about Dayak unity?

IN the last few weeks or so we have heard of Abdul Taib Mahmud, PBB president, George Chan, SUPP president, and Sim Kheng Hui, SUPP secretary general talking about merger between SPDP and PRS and it appears that they are so concerned about Dayak unity.

*Talks of merger resurfaced after the 8 March 08 parliamentary elections. The talks believed to have emerged on 7 May 08 during a coffee break after the morning session of the Dewan Undangan Negeri (Council Negeri) meeting. James Masing was sitting with a PRS leader when Taib joined them. Also joining them were William Mawan and Dublin Unting. During this coffee break, Taib brought up the subject of merger between SPDP and PRS.

Masing was quick to ask Taib: “Sir, are you serious in seeing that the two parties merge?” Without hesitation, Taib replied: “Ya, ya, of course I am serious.”

Masing was said to be unsure of Taib’s intention following an earlier encounter with Taib when he (Taib) told Masing that Datuk Sri Daniel Tajem had not done anything when he was one of the deputy chief ministers in Taib’s cabinet. Masing could not understand why Taib mentioned Tajem to him. Could it mean that Tajem was useless and that PRS should keep away from him? And why did Taib keep on reminding them regarding the merger of the two parties to form a bigger union? Was he really sincere? These are some of the questions that PRS leaders are asking themselves.

In the absence of Chinese influence, PRS can become not only a strong rural based party, but can also become a very formidable Dayak party supported by people like Tajem, Salang and hardcore members of the defunct PBDS. The recently concluded parliamentary elections saw many hardcore members of demised PBDS led by Tajem lending support to PRS candidates resulting in comfortable victories by the six PRS candidates.

And by merging, the two parties will invite more troubles and create more problems for themselves. For example, the questions of leadership and the Chinese influence come to mind. Who should helm the new party? And what about Chinese members and influence?

On the question of leadership, there are SPDP members who do not want Masing to take over because of his involvement in the deregistration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak. Some senior members of SPDP are also interested in the leadership of the new entity. Similarly there are PRS members who do not want Mawan to be the leader of the merged party because of his personal characters. There will be leadership tussles and these will possibly lead to two or even three factions each to be headed by a president with separate supreme councils. Bickering is not good for the new party and for the Dayak community

The possible presence of Tiong King Sing, Larry Sng and Ting Pek Khiing in the new party frightens PRS leaders and members and may be not so much to SPDP. PRS leaders have seen how decisions in SNAP, PBDS, SPDP and PRS have been dictated by strong Chinese influence. PRS itself was almost deregistered due to the leadership struggle between Masing and Larry Sng. Currently it is trying to get rid of Chinese influence in the party.

Taib must have sensed that Masing and his party members were hesitant in forging the merger with SPDP. So once again Taib mentioned the importance of merger between the two parties, but this time around he mentioned it during an official function on 20 June and not over a cup of coffee as he did previously. He even saw beyond the merger of the two parties when he expressed the hope that the new entity would eventually join PBB to form a bigger union of Bumiputra party. ……. More to come..

* This article is taken from a chapter on PRS CRISIS of Volume two of THE BROKEN SHIELD. The book is due to be published soon.

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