PSB tells PRS leaders to ask themselves why their members resigned

KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) says in a statement Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) leaders must ask themselves why their members left to join PSB, instead of blaming PSB for such loss of support.

The PSB was referring to a recent statement by PRS president Tan Sri James Masing, who said there was no place for PSB in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) as PSB had been everywhere promoting itself and recruiting huge numbers of new applicants from GPS component parties, especially PRS.

The statement added that PSB conducted a series of roadshows throughout Sarawak after the party rebranded itself from United People’s Party to ‘Parti Sarawak Bersatu’, which were no different to the roadshows that GPS conducted around Sarawak after the four component parties left Barisan Nasional (BN) and formed GPS.

“As a result of the PSB roadshows, it’s true that we received very strong spontaneous response and substantial numbers of applications for membership from across the political divide.

“We did not go out to poach members from other political parties.

“All applicants to join PSB do so voluntarily and without any inducement whatsoever.

“We know for a fact that there were PRS members who left to join PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) after GE14 (14th general election); and some of them had since left PKR to join PSB. The feedback that we received is that they see PSB as a Sarawakian party that is truly independent and carries no baggage that some of the other parties carry.

“These include those parties and persons who are tainted by funds received from the former prime minister’s account, where funds were allegedly siphoned from 1MDB and SRC.

“We believe it is only a matter of time before the investigation reaches the doorsteps of those parties,” said the PSB statement.

On complaints from PRS about Sri Aman MP Datuk Masir Kujat joining PSB, the statement said this should not be an issue as PSB accepted his application for membership after he informed the party that he had resigned from PRS.