Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has once again neglected the Dayak community represented by Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party and Parti Rakyat Sarawak of  a ministerial appointment last Wednesday’s cabinet reshuffle even though the two parties between them have nine members of parliament.

Najib appointed MCA President Liow Tiong Lai Transport Minister, MCA deputy president Wee Ka Sion as well Gerakan president Mah Siew Kiong as ministers in the prime ministers's department.

He also named three MCA vice-presidents as deputy ministers namely Lee Chee Leong  as deputy minister of international trade and industry, Chua Tee Yong  as deputy minister of minister of finance and Chew Mei Fun as deputy minister of women, family and community development.

Currently PRS which has six MPs has only one minister in the prime ministers's department namely Joseph Entulu Belaun ( left ), while SPDP with three MPs has no representatives at all in the federal cabinet.

SPDP organised a special Gawai Dayak celebration in Julau last year for Najib when the party leaders took the opportunity to practically beg him to appoint anyone of the MPs as minister, while PRS President James Masing had written to him  requesting to consider a full minister and a deputy minister posts soon after the general election.

However, Najib named two deputy ministers from PRS while SPDP was completely left out. In the previous cabinet both PRS and SPDP had two deputy ministers each.

Rewarded only after protest

When Masing ( right ), who is Sarawak Land Development Minister protested and PRS  threatened to boycott the swearing in of ministers, only then was Entulu appointed a full minister. The party is still not satisfied.

The two parties have accused Najib of sidelining the Dayak community as they had hoped that special consideration would be accorded them in a future cabinet reshuffle.

In a statement, SPDP acting president Tiong King Sing shared Masing's disappointment that no ministerial post was given to the two parties.

The prime minister did not appoint any of SPDP MPs to the cabinet despite taking all four seats it contested  in the last polls.

Although SPDP former president William Mawan Ikom ( left ), who was Saratok MP had left the party, Tiong said that the three MPs left behind were more than capable of taking  up any of the available cabinet posts.

"If we are represented in the federal cabinet, we could serve our people better, especially in rural areas.

"If Barisan Nasional is to improve its performance in the next election, Najib must include all communities and component parties in the government.

"We hope the prime minister will address our concerns soon and give fair allocation of federal posts to SDP and PRS as we’ve contributed nine federal seats from the state," said Tiong, the MP for Bintulu.

Meanwhile, Masing, bemoaned that the minor cabinet reshuffle did not include any of the five MPs from PRS.

"It seems that the allocation of ministerial positions doesn't reflect the party's strength on the ground, and the Dayaks' contributions to  BN's victory," he was quoted as saying.

He said that PRS contributed six seats to the BN in the last election while MCA contributed seven seats , Gerakan two and SUPP one, but these parties were granted better deals.

"These parties collectively contributed only 10 seats, but they are given four full ministers and three deputy ministers. Between PRS and SPDP, we contributed nine seats and yet we are given only one full ministers's post.

"Please don't continue to ignore us or else the voters will ignore us in the coming election," said Masing, pointing out that he had written to the prime minister on the matter.

He said he would write to him again reminding him of PRS' request.

Sarawak which is known as 'fixed deposit' of BN contributed 25 seats out of which 13 are Dayak majority seats.

The opposition in Sarawak captured six seats, which are in urban areas.

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