PRS rebel may lose post in cabinet reshuffle

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) rebels woke up with a start from their sleep walking this week and were galvanized into action by Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s announcement of a major state cabinet reshuffle next year.

In a new spin, assistant minister Larry Sng renewed claims that his faction doesn’t recognise Land Development Minister Dr James Jemut Masing as the lawful president - despite a ruling in April from the Registrar of Societies (ROS). He appeared to clutch at straws when banking on a proposed merger with SPDP (Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party).

Sng also revived his claim that he was actually the real party president, in effect disputing the decision of the ROS in favour of Masing.

“We deeply appreciate the consistency of SPDP president William Mawan in wanting the merger to happen as soon as possible, but Masing is singing a different tune now,” complains Sidi Munan who is aligned with Sng and was one of the six principal office bearers sacked by Masing shortly after the May 2006 state election - which started a serious party crisis. Masing himself was later sacked from the party by the Sng-led supreme council.

The choice of SPDP for a merger is an obvious one. SPDP was the second party to split from Snap (Sarawak National Party) after the now defunct PBDS (Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak).

PBDS spawned PRS and MDC (Malaysian Dayak Congress) after it was de-registered.

While the PRS application was quickly approved within days in October 2004 by the ROS, MDC’s efforts were continuously rejected without real basis - the final rejection on grounds of “national security.” This forced the them to resort to the courts.

Sending wrong signal

Before a hearing proper, the ROS advised the party’s pro-tem that they can appeal the application rejection - disrupting the legal initiative. MDC has decided to stall their court measures for now - however not ruling out the option while they negotiate a resolution with the ROS.

The party is linked with former PBDS acting president Daniel Tajem - also the party’s founder - although the credit often goes to Tenaga Nasional chairperson Leo Moggie.

Some MDC leaders recently joined Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Masing faction’s secretary-general Wilfred Nissom thinks that “Sng is sending the wrong signal that the party was still split.” He added it was not right for Sng to refer to himself as party president with Sidi Munan as secretary-general.

“We still believe that Larry is the legally-elected president. Masing’s group can say whatever they want,” said Sidi Munan in a statement to the local media.

“As far as we are concerned, Larry is the president as he was elected during our triennial delegates conference which was even attended by former state ROS director James Ho.”

He disputed Nissom’s charge that Sng was “sending the wrong signal” and claimed that it was a fact that PRS was still split.

“We should not try to suppress each other for this tantamounts to a blatant breach of justice to our strong supporters from 19 of the 28 divisions,” added Sidi Munan who appeared to be holding out an olive branch when he said that, “Larry and his followers are ready to talk with Masing and his group to compromise and eventually sort things out.”

Masing was elected president by his faction at their own triennial delegates conference (TDC) on Dec 2, 2006 in Sibu.

In a tit-for-tat move, the Larry Sng faction held their TDC on March 30 last year in Kuching where he was elected president and Jimmy Donald as his deputy.

Larry Sng on the way out

With the April decision recognising Masing as the lawful president of PRS, the ROS had in effect also recognised his sacking of the six principal office bearers - which included Sidi Munan the secretary-general and Nissom the publicity chief. However, Nissom was re-appointed secretary-general by Masing the very next day to replace Sidi Munan.

It is not known why Taib, a normally reticent and highly secretive man, chose to make such an announcement. He’s not known for giving advance notice on anything. Even his trips out of the state and abroad, whether for personal, medical or official reasons, are shrouded in tight secrecy.

For example, it was days before the media discovered that he was undergoing medical treatment in Singapore and a month later in Australia.

The Taib announcement on the impending cabinet reshuffle has analysts and observers back at their drawing boards again. In explaining the timing of the reshuffle, Taib added that he wanted the Supp (Sarawak United People’s Party) elections out of the way first.

Supp and PRS aside, the ruling state Barisan Nasional comprises Taib’s PBB (Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) and SPDP which was admitted to replace Snap following its deregistration by the ROS. A court has since given Snap a new lease of life but it remains outside the BN along with the State Reform Party (Star) headed by ex-Snap senior vice-president and former assistant minister Dr Patau Rubis.

Whatever happens between now and the year end, Larry Sng is said to be on his way out as assistant minister in the major state cabinet reshuffle promised by Taib for early next year. It is unlikely that he will be recommended for re-appointment to the state cabinet by Masing although he holds the party’s state seat of Pelagus.

“By refusing to recognise Masing as the lawfully elected PRS president and carrying on instead as the renegade party president, he has effectively voted himself out of the party," says a senior political analyst in Kuching. “It remains to be seen exactly how many members will follow him out of the party.”

As a Chinese in an ostensibly multiracial but overwhelmingly Dayak-based party, there are allegations that he remains a Machiavellian play for his father, the Iban-speaking elder Sng (Sng Chee Hua) who was once Masing’s deputy and who was vice-president in PBDS under Tajem.

Larry, 29, is married to tycoon Ting Pek King’s daughter and money is no problem for the Sngs. They have a war chest to play with in Dayak politics under the guise of multiracialism. There have been allegations that money was used liberally to buy support from party members. At the end of the proverbial rainbow is the pot of gold in the form of the spoils of office and development projects.

Of PRS’s nine state assemblymen, eight are with Masing including the party president himself. None of the party’s six members of parliament are aligned to the Sng group.

One pro-Masing state assemblyman and also a assistant minister, Dublin Unting, is in a comatose state at a private hospital in Kuching after suffering a stroke recently. Masing appears to have the upper hand in the renewed party crisis since he has come out relatively unfazed from previous episodes despite the Sngs allegedly manoeuvring behind the scenes to horse-trade with the powers-that-be, buy his legislators and oust him.

Dayak politics have always been dogged by the lack of money and they make easy prey for anyone with a big war chest - and in the longhouses, crate-loads of cheap moonshine.