KUCHING, July 14: It is not that Gabungan Party Sarawak (GPS) is hostile to Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), but simply GPS reacting to PSB’s hostility, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing.
Commenting on Second Finance Minister-cum-PSB president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh’s claims that GPS has been hostile to his party, Masing said it was actually the other way around, and what Wong described was a reaction or retaliation from GPS component parties.
He said, the reason for that was because Wong had snatched some of GPS’ party members and elected representatives in the first place.
“First of all, they have not been very friendly to some of the GPS component parties. Of course the reaction is we will not take it sitting down. There will be a response to it. It’s not us being unfriendly, just defending ourselves from being attacked by PSB,” Masing told reporters after the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Ngiling Bidai Open House at the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Hall here this afternoon.
Also present during the Ngiling Bidai ceremony was Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg who, when confronted by reporters at the end of the ceremony, declined to say anything before leaving the venue.
Masing, who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation and PRS president, doubted Wong’s claim that GPS has cut off his arms and legs, saying that he did it to some GPS component parties first.
“I don’t believe he (Wong) understood what he said when they have been very unfriendly to us. Just like he said, he had also tried to cut the legs and arms of GPS members, first of all by stealing some of the boys within some of the party members, from PRS first of all and then other GPS components.
“So that reaction would demand some kind of response from us. Of course we responded. As I’ve said, you do not expect us to sit down and take the blow just like that,” he said.
Asked if GPS and the state government would be affected with by the possibilty of Wong being removed from or leaving the state cabinet, he said this would not affect GPS and the state government one bit.
As it stands now, Masing said, PSB which has not been friendly towards GPS, by having it and its members out of the picture would not make GPS any weaker.
“If they leave us, we will fight them. It doesn’t make us any weaker…. It doesn’t make any difference to us. It is better to fight a known enemy than to fight somebody you don’t know. If they declare their interest and where they stand it is easier.
“I have been in that position for seven years and I didn’t hide behind anybody else. When I said ‘I fight’, I’ll fight, there’s no hidden agenda behind us,” said Masing. — DayakDaily
