The Barisan Nasional leadership is so worried that some of their members of parliament in Sarawak and Sabah will leave or cross over to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that they have packed them off to go on official visits overseas.

bersih round table 100207 syed husin ali According to PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali, 10 Sarawak BN parliamentarians were 'hijacked' and sent to Beijing on such a visit.

Two of the Sarawak MPs who were supposed to be around to make an important announcement yesterday had called Pakatan leaders to say that they were in Beijing, he told a press conference in Kota Kinabalu today after closing a state PKR Lamai Kaamatan celebrations.

Syed Husin did not name them but said that not all the 10 MPs had been courted by Pakatan.

It is reliably learnt that the ‘hijacked’ parliamentarians were those considered ‘untrustworthy’ and on the ‘border-line’ on the BN radar..

However, Syed Husin was not perturbed by the BN move, saying that it would not make any difference as those who have decided to make the switch would make the announcement soon.

PKR vice-president Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who was present at the press conference, said some Sabah BN parliamentarians had also been sent on such trips overseas to try and stymie plans for them to declare their switch in political allegiance.

Pressed further, Jeffrey who is also Sabah PKR deputy chief said: “But I can't tell you where they have been sent to”.

Sept 16 still the date

According to Syed Husin, Pakatan leaders remained confident that they would have the necessary numbers to take over the federal government by Sept 16.

“It will all take place as scheduled,” he declared.

The PKR stalwart said Pakatan’s ultimate aim was not merely to see a BN leadership change with the replacement of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister by another BN leader but a change of the present government.

He stressed that change must benefit the people as a whole and not only a small group as isnthe case at present under the BN government.

syed hussin ali sabah sarawak 210608 greeting crowd Earlier, Syed Husin told the big crowd attending the closing ceremony that the change was already taking place in Peninsular Malaysia with Pakatan’s victory in five states - Kelantan, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Selangor and in 10 out of the 11 parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory.

He said PR has not been as successful in Sarawak and Sabah because the elections were not conducted fairly.

However, he was confident that voters could see that change was possible and that the wind of change would sweep across to the two East Malaysian states in the next general election.

Also present at the function were PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim, Sabah PKR chief Ansari Abdullah and Sarawak PKR leader Dominique Ng.

The event was held at a private Chinese school in Likas.