KUCHING, April 24: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing clarifies his own statements in DayakDaily’s commentary titled “Did something happen to the PRS GE14 namelist?”
In a six-point statement, Masing first of all reiterated his allegiance to Barisan Nasional (BN) and its national top leader Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as well as its state top brass Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said his PRS candidate list was the final outcome after two meetings, firstly with Najib which he did under the instruction of Abang Johari and later on, with Abang Johari himself.
“For PRS candidates, I had discussions with YAB PM and also YAB CM. I went first to see PM because I was instructed by CM. With regards to the content of both discussions, I am not at liberty to mention or disclose,” he said in a statement today.
As for the alleged “Big Brothers” mentioned in the commentary, Masing denied that he said this and pointed out it was referring to the interviews conducted by the DayakDaily commentary writer and reporter with Selangau community leaders. The commentary had linked the ‘Big Brother’ talk to rumours about mysterious benefactors supposedly behind Entulu’s unjustified confidence in his renomination.
Masing also explained that he used some of the insinuating words such as “miraculously” when approached by the DayakDaily reporter because of the way Entulu carried himself.
“Both PM and CM supported our PRS list but the way Datuk Entulu acted was as if he was still in the list.
“I was very puzzled and unless “some magic” happened along the way, he would not be so confident. That’s why I use the word ‘miraculously’ indicating ‘magic’ because I didn’t know if it happened or not. I was puzzled, as I didn’t know,” said Masing who is also Deputy Chief Minister.
On his statement on “Siapa makan cili, dia rasa pedas”, Masing said he was referring to the leaders and members PRS just expelled.
“They have betrayed the party and BN and they will have to face the consequences. So they are the ones who ‘makan cili’. And yesterday, they ‘rasa pedas’,” said Masing.
Finally, on the rumours that he was the financier of DayakDaily, Masing denied it as the content of DayakDaily reflects it is not a “true blue” news portal.
“I am not the financier for DayakDaily. If you look at its contents, the website is not a true blue BN. PRS has our own channel – the PRS website,” said Masing.
Masing issued the statement to address questions by reporters over who were the “big brothers” mentioned in the above-mentioned commentary.
He also issued the statement because rumours have connected him to the news portal. — DayakDaily
