PRS supports PH’s move to rid country of corrupt persons
KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS), a Barisan Nasional ( BN) componet party, is in agreement with the Pakatan Harapan ( PH) - led federal government’s all- out move to go after the corrupt in the country.
However, the PH government must be fair and not practise selective persecution but should also go after their own leaders if they are corrupt too, said PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing.
“Let the law take its course but there must not be selective persecution,” he told a press conference at the PRS headquarters in Jalan Wan Alwi here yesterday.
PRS secretary- general Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum shared similar sentiment when he said: “Do what is needed; do what is necessary. We have laws. Malaysia has the most number of laws ( in the world) enacted but whether or not these laws are being used properly, that is another thing”.
Salang, who failed to retain the Julau parliamentary seat for BN in the May 9 polls, urged the PH government led by the fourth and seventh Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, to put relevant laws into action.
“Pakatan Harapan is to put laws into action. We let that be as we are all prepared for it. But let there be no perception of selective persecution,” he said on PH’s move to wipe out corruption in the nation.
On other issues, Masing said a post- mortem on PRS’ performance in the just concluded parliamentary election had been done but he would only divulge all the findings after the party headquarters had compiled them.
When pressed further, the Deputy Chief Minister said lack of cohesiveness among members and supporters of BN component parties was among the reasons why state BN lost 12 out of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak.
Masing played down factors for the defeat in three seats allocated to PRS – namely Julau, Selangau and Lubok Antu – by saying that the sacking of five of its supreme council members during the eve of the day for naming state BN candidates had very little impact.
Masing said they only lost very marginally in these three seats and that the reason was lack of cohesiveness among BN components.
“There was no internal sabotaging within the BN but only lack of cohesiveness among us – no sabotage. It was not as it should have been as far as true support is concerned,” he stressed.
He also rubbished the claim by former PRS supreme council member and former Lubok Antu MP Datuk William Nyallau Badak that PRS lost in Lubok Antu because BN supporters were angered by his ( Nyallau) sacking from the party.
“That is just his ( Nyallau) opinion,” he said.
“We ( BN) must act as one. PRS members are honest and if people ask us for help, we will help,” he added.
Masing said the state BN has yet to hold a meeting but the national BN supreme council meeting was held last Monday night.
“We were told to let the new BN chairman ( Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) to say what need to be said,” said Masing when asked by the press what had transpired.
On the party’s level of preparedness for the next state election — to be called latest by 2021 — Masing said they ( state BN) would first and foremost play a responsible opposition at the federal level.
“We want to be a responsible opposition ( at federal level). In the state we are still the government of the day and a strong one. We ( state BN) have two-third majority.
“We will not oppose for the sake of opposing. In short, we will act as a responsible opposition. That is, we want to be an opposition that is credible and believable so that when the time for change comes, the people of Malaysia will once again believe in us,” he said in a press statement delivered during the press conference.
“Please note that I and a few of PRS elected representatives and members had been in the opposition for seven years - from 1987 to 1994. So this role as an opposition is not new to me nor it is to some of my boys in PRS,” he said.
However, he said the result of the 2016 state election showed that the people of Sarawak had spoken.
“They ( Sarawakians) wanted BN to administer Sarawak with a very loud and clear voice. They gave us two-third majority in the state legislative assembly.
“It is my hope that PH understand its implications while administering the Federation of Malaysia. At federal level PH controls and at state level, BN administers.
“The understanding, the constitutional as well as the financial obligations of the federation to the state within its jurisdiction must not get lost in the euphoria of winning a general election.
“Sarawak BN will remind PH federal government of its constitutional obligation to Sarawak and other states which chose not to join it,” stressed Masing, who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation.