Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the backbone of the Sarawak BN, has ruled out the possibility of opening its door for non-bumiputera membership.

PBB deputy president Alfred Jabu said today the party had to understand the sensitivity of the Chinese-based BN component party, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), which had been largely responsible in encouraging active Chinese participation within the BN framework.

"We (PBB) must respect SUPP," he said in a special interview with the media in conjunction with the party's 12th convention to be held at the party headquarter from Feb 27 to March 5.

Jabu who is deputy chief minister said the issue of non-bumiputeras being PBB members was nothing new as previously it had a non-bumiputera member named Putih Abdullah from Semera in Samarahan division in the early years of its formation but it had accepted his membership only under "special circumstances".

Mixed marriages

He said the party might also consider membership from non-bumiputeras under special circumstances, especially for those born from mixed marriages between bumiputeras and non-bumiputeras.

Asked whether Sarawak will see a single BN party rather than the present one which is based on ethnicity, Jabu said it would take time to materialise as the concept had to be nurtured and understood.

On the internal problem faced by the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), he was confident that it would not affect the Sarawak BN because in politics difference of opinion was normal and manageable.

"Even husbands and wifes quarrel but it should not end in divorce," he said, adding that PBB would not interfere with SPDP's problem.

No candidates under MACC probe

Meanwhile, PBB secretary-general Dr Stephen Rundi Itom said that all candidates vying for posts at the 12th convention of PBB from Feb 27 to March 5 have been found to be free of any investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Forty-one candidates are contesting for posts in the PBB Youth, Wanita PBB and PBB supreme council, he said, adding that none of the top posts in the supreme council and the two wings were seeing contests.

"The candidates have been warned not to resort to money politics to garner votes," he told a news conference on the convention, here.

Rundi said the convention, to be held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, would begin with the PBB Youth and Wanita PBB assemblies on Saturday and Sunday.

PBB president and Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud was scheduled to open these assemblies on Saturday, he added.

- Bernama