Entulu reveals circumstances that led him to join PSB

KUCHING: Former Selangau MP and former Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS) deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun in a statement yesterday explained the circumstances leading to his joining Parti Sarawak Bersatu ( PSB).

“With reference to the recent spate of press reports attacking PSB for accepting me and my supporters as members, I wish to issue a statement to clarify some related issues. It is a matter of fact that I was sacked as a member of Parti Rakyat Sarawak on the eve of nomination day before the last Parliamentary General Election.

“At the same time, PRS also sacked Datuk William Nyallau and several other Dayak leaders who were aligned with me.

“At that time, I was the Deputy President of PRS and I was the incumbent Member of Parliament for the constituency of Selangau as well as full Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department before the dissolution of Parliament. Datuk Nyallau was the incumbent Member of Parliament for Lubok Antu,” he said.

Because of that PRS sacking, Entulu and Nyallau could not use the Barisan Nasional ( BN) ticket to contest in Selangau and Lubok Antu respectively, prompting them both to not seek re- election.

After being party- less for some time they decided to join PSB and announced their interest here on March 7 after having had a meeting with PSB leaders.

Entulu added that five of them were all shocked to be sacked so suddenly and that they were not given any notice to appear before the committee that decided to sack them.

“It is also a fact that the PRS Supreme Council did not convene any meeting or make any decision to sack us. Our sudden sacking was in breach of the party Constitution. What is not publicly known is that both Datuk Nyallau and I had already been shown our Surat Watikah from the then Prime Minister ( Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) for us to be nominated as candidates for the seats of Lubok Antu and Selangau respectively. This means that the then BN chairman had decided to nominate us as candidates.

“The last-minute decision of PRS to sack us effectively preempted the decision of the BN chairman and deprived us of our candidacy. After that, we were party-less.

“We decided to join PSB after it had re- branded itself from United People’s Party. We felt that PSB afforded our group the best platform to fight for Sarawak rights and for the Dayak community as PSB is a multi-racial party that is going to expand its focus to assist rural areas,” Entulu said.

PSB has always been a party friendly to the Sarawak government throughout the different administrations under Tun Taib, the late Tok Nan and the current government under Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari, he pointed out.

This makes PSB an ideal vehicle for the former PRS leaders to fight for the interests of Sarawak unlike the Pakatan Harapan ( PH) parties which are controlled by central leadership in the Peninsular Malaysia, he added.