A senior political analyst said to audie61,”There is no clear line in politics. He also made a clarification regarding PBDS candidates who stood in 1987 and 1991. During the Ming Court 1987, PBDS was at odds with Taib Mahmud and they joined forces with PERMAS to try to oust the then Chief Minister. PBDS leaders held positions in the Federal BN Government during this period but were outside BN in the State.”
So the headline on the article which is extracted fully Masing”Get this clear, Sarawak BN does not include Teras.UPP” leaves very much to be desired. The writer should have clarified the Minister’s statement instead of agreeing fully.
A source telephoned audie61 and even said,” the name of the game is that Masing only wants to rid off all challengers so that the DCM posts is within his reach. Fair enough to harp about it,but isn’t that challenging the Chief Minister’s statement of BN plus in the present ruling government?” PBB,SUPP,PRS and SPDP are of course the BN coalition but TERAS and UPP are helmed also by BN assemblyman and their members.
Teras,UPP are not anti-BN are they now? In political theory they are but politics is never a clear line.
The final candidacy will be very much to the Chief Minister wouldn’t it be? The 3 Presidents of the party will be giving their names of their candidates and its up to CM Adenan to give the nod to all the lists submitted. CM Adenan will want winnable candidates for all those seats which BN will be contesting. Isn’t that his decision plus inputs from the BN coalition members and his strategists?
Maybe,for the record audie61 would not know yet as they are not sitting in the Chief Minister’s chair.By the way,we are not stalking the writer but only asking why is that his focus is only UPP and in particular TERAS.
The full article which has been extracted.
The people in Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) and United People’s Party (UPP) will find BN’s door wide open if they take the cue from PRS president Dr James Masing’s statement on Oct 5. Masing had said the current political scenario in the state would not be an issue if the people concerned were not only thinking of themselves. The current stalemate could easily be settled if those involved were serious in serving their constituents. “In the 12th general election, we had a situation in Julau. It’s PRS seat and (Datuk) Joseph Salang wanted to stand as BN candidate but he was not a member of PRS.
So was Kanowit. It’s a BN seat and (Datuk) Aaron Dagang wanted to stand as a BN candidate but I said it’s a PRS seat. “So I went to see (then Chief Minister) Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud. Sir, I have a problem. Julau and Kanowit are my party’s seats, but the guys who want to stand there are not from BN. What am I going to do? “He said: ‘It’s simple, ask them to join you’. So I talked to Joseph Salang and Aaron Dagang to join us, which they did,” Masing was quoted as saying.
He said the reason Salang and Aron agreed to his proposal for them to join PRS was because they had the voters’ interest in mind. Masing further added: “So that’s how I solved the problem. Why make it so difficult, I cannot understand it because they think of what there is for them and not for the people who vote for them.
That’s the difference.” By “they” he can only mean the people in Teras – William Mawan, Peter Nansian, Sylvester Entri, Rosey Yunus and Paulus Palu Gumbang – and those in UPP – Wong Soon Koh, Dr Jerip Susil, Ranum Mina and Dr Johnical Rayong. Mawan’s declaration of “I am always Barisan, Barisan, and Barisan, through and through” will be seen as only political rhetoric if he keeps insisting Teras is a member of BN whether or not some component members of the ruling coalition agree.
Similarly, Wong’s BN posture cannot be genuine if he thinks UPP is the sole representative of the Chinese community and brushes aside Sarawak United People’s Party’s (SUPP) presence in the ruling coalition. Mawan and Wong must not think for a while that Teras and UPP are so important to BN that the ruling coalition will not hesitate to expel Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and SUPP just to facilitate the admission of the so-called BN-friendly parties.
BN will not do that to its component members not only because that’s not how BN solves differences in the coalition but also because there are people who know too well the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of winning in the election if they don’t stand on a BN ticket.
I think that’s what Masing was hinting at when he said anyone aspiring to be BN candidates should not just rely on the ‘dacing’ (scale) symbol to win seats, but more on their own popularity. Who in Teras will dare say they can win even without having to be on the side of the BN?
Mawan, whose election debut was as a DAP candidate, certainly can vouch that the surest way to lose is as an opposition candidate like he once was. Who in UPP, with the exception of Rayong, dare claim they don’t need to use the ‘dacing’ symbol to win in the coming state election? Rayong won the Engkilili state seat under opposition Sarawak National Party (SNAP) ticket in 2006 while Masing stood on Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) ticket against the BN twice – in 1987 and 1991. “
The real test of winnability is the ability to win without the use of BN symbol, especially in rural areas. So non-BN candidates cannot be supported by the BN political organisations until and unless they have been admitted to BN; otherwise BN is seen as fighting against the very laws it created,” Masing had said in his Oct 5 statement.
Right at this moment, Teras and UPP are not components of BN, until and unless they have been admitted into the BN, their winnability is not only suspect but irrelevant. However, the Teras and UPP people can make their winnability relevant if they are willing to play by the BN’s rule.
And Masing has just set the tone, if BN and your voters are your prime concern, then swallow your pride and play by BN’s rule. In Sarawak, that rule is set down by Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), PRS, SUPP and SPDP. It can’t be any clearer, Teras and UPP can’t be so dumb not to understand that. –
