In a move to show that everything in the party is okay, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) supreme council members today reaffirmed their support for Dr James Masing as party president and Sng Chee Hua as his deputy.

It is well known among political watchers that Masing and Sng have not been getting along in recent weeks because of their differences in the choice of candidates for the coming state election.

Words soon began to spread that the party's supreme council will pass a vote of no-confidence in Masing's leadership and that the party president will leave PRS to join an alliance of Dayak political parties.

However, the meeting which started at 1.50 pm and lasted only 25 minutes sought to dispel the rift between the top two party leaders. Thus the pledge of support which is said to have even caught the party president by surprise.

The meeting today only discussed two issues - the party's candidates and the proposed merger with Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

Sng, who is the party's selection committee to recommend party candidates for the elections, said today that he was also appointed to head a committee to explore ways for a merger with SPDP. Both PRS and SPDP are part of the four-member state ruling coalition.

Merger proposal endorsed

Masing said Sng has been given time to pick his members in the committee to negotiate on the merger.

Masing, who is state Land Development Minister, reiterated that the supreme council members had all endorsed the merger proposal.

He said the proposal was for a merger of two political entities - SPDP and PRS. Asked on Deputy Foreign Minister Joseph Salang's role, Masing replied that "he can join us (the merged entity) as an individual later."

On the party's choice of candidates, Masing said all incumbents would be retained except for Tamin where its incumbent, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Joseph Entulu, will not be defending his state seat.

The other incumbents are Masing (Balleh), Larry Sng ( Pelagus), Dublin Unting (Batang Ai), Mong Dagang (Bukit Begunan) and John Sikie (Kakus). The party has been allocated the new state seat of Balai Ringin and is claiming two others (Ngemah and Belaga), presently held by Gabriel Adit and Stanley Ajang, who have joined SPDP.

Masing said the names of new candidates for other seats would only be announced after they had been forwarded to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and approved by him.

Sng is said to want new faces to replace the incumbents in Bukit Begunan, Tamin and Kakus and to press for the party to field their candidates in Belaga and Ngemah.

Masing is believed to have little control over his supreme council members and his only hope of getting all the incumbents retained, except in Tamin, is to go through the top state BN leadership for a final decision.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.