The Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) has surprised its coalition partners by describing the proposed merger between the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) as a "setback" for it.

Senior Supp leader Dr Soon Choon Teck said in Sibu that the merger, if it materialises between the two Dayak-based parties, would result in the formation of the second-largest party in the four-member Barisan Nasional (BN).

"Should this happen then Supp will only be the third-largest party in Sarawak, which will be a setback for us," he said at a party event over the weekend, at which Deputy Chief Minister and Supp president Dr George Chan and top leaders were present.

Even as Soon was expressing anxiety, SPDP president William Mawan said at the opening of a party service-centre in Kanowit that he was confident the merger would proceed before the state elections "once certain differences have been ironed out".

The supreme council of each party has unanimously endorsed the merger and set up committees to start negotiations.

When contacted, PRS deputy president Sng Chee Hua, who also sits on the merger negotiation committee, said he has not been approached as yet by SPDP counterpart Peter Nyarok to initiate talks.

PRS secretary-general Sidi Munan declined to comment beyond saying that Sng had yet to appoint the committee members and that no date has been set to start the talks.

Malaysiakini, however, understands that unofficial discussions have begun between Nyarok, secretary-general Sylvester Entrie and PRS leaders Dublin Unting and Joseph Entulu.

Sng declined to comment on this.

Chinese votes

State DAP chairperson Wong Ho Leng questioned Supp's concern over its ranking within the BN.

"Why are they concerned only with being No. 2 and not with No. 1? I thought the BN talks about one-in-all and all-in- one. Politics is not a numbers game. It is about serving the people and serving them well," he said.

"The Supp leadership is stooping very low and is immature in suggesting they must retain the No. 2 position in the BN."

Wong said the reality is that Supp leaders lack the courage to speak out on issues that concern the people the most "because of the all-powerful Chief Minister...they are all suffering from a crab mentality".

He said they should stop making racist remarks, referring to comments by Supp MP and Sibu Municipal Council chairperson Tiong Thai King.

Tiong had reportedly said it was shameful that almost 60 percent of Chinese voters had not supported the party in the last parliamentary election in Bandar Sibu, and that victory had relied on Malay votes.

This was the first time that party leaders had publicly admitted their failure to capture the majority of Chinese votes in Bandar Sibu.

"Hopefully, such a scenario will not happen again,' Tiong said ,adding the Chinese should support the government to create a better Sibu.

Criticising his remarks, Wong said the party should instead conduct self-examination as to why it is not getting Chinese support.

"Supp leaders should be grateful that they still have 41 percent support from Chinese voters, considering how little they have done for the Chinese in Sarawak."

State-level elections are due by November, but expectations of an earlier date are said to be held back by the proposed merger and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's health.