By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, August 26: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is still uncertain who will be its ‘enemies’ and who will be its friends for the coming State election.
According to PSB senior vice-president Datu Ranum Mina, the party’s main focus now is to ‘go all out’ to establish itself.
“As of now we do not know who will be our ‘enemies’ in the coming election. We will know only when the time comes (during election),” Ranum told DayakDaily today.
He said since declaring itself ‘independent’ from being an ally of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) recently, the party has been aggressively moving on the ground to establish more branches.
When asked of his chance of defending Opar in the coming State election, Ranum, who is a four-term assemblyman said he was confident based on the strong grassroots’ support.
Currently PSB has four State assemblymen, namely Wong (Bawang Assan), Datuk Tiong Thai King (Dudong) and Johnical Rayong (Engkilili) and one MP, Datuk Masit Kujat (Sri Aman).
PSB has departed from GPS when its president Dato Sri Wong Son Koh decided to resign from the cabinet on July 15.
Prior to that, PSB has been accused by GPS component parties of sabotaging the coalition by pinching GPS members and leaders, especially in the rural areas.
As a result, the GPS Government had taken action against the party by firstly cutting off minor rural project (MRP) funds and rural transformation project (RTP) funds to PSB elected representatives, and later, excluding their their members and grassroots leaders from the councillors’ list.
Along the way, PSB suffered another setback when its former deputy president Datuk Dr Jerip Susil quit the party and now applies to join GPS.
Dr Jerip has retained his post in the cabinet as Assistant Minister of Transport, as announced by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg last week. — DayakDaily
