Dayak dignity at stake over Larry

KUCHING: If Chief Minister Taib Mahmud insists on fielding Larry Sng in Pelagus in the coming election, then Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and its president James Masing will have no choice but to leave the state Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, according to former PRS information chief Tedewin Ngumbang.

“It appears to me that Taib wants Sng to contest the Pelagus seat and wants Masing to take him back.

“If that is the case, the PRS president and the party have no choice but to pull out of the state BN if they have the courage,” he said.

Ngumbang believes that a pullout by PRS would only be for the better.

“It is what the Dayak communuity wants him to do… the party can work with Sarawak National Party (SNAP) to strengthen Dayak unity.

“They (PRS leaders) will be considered heroes by the Dayaks and will be welcomed with open arms by Pakatan Rakyat,” he added.

Alternatively, Masing could swallow his pride and help Taib solve Sng’s problem by taking Sng back to PRS, he said.

“This will settle the problem once and for all and the chief minister will be very happy as well as the Sngs and the Tings (Ting Phek Kiing who is Sng’s father-in-law).

“There will certainly be hugs and kisses, sweeteners and ‘ang pows’ will be thrown as packages for the party,” Ngumbang said.

Forced resignation?

Ngumbang said that Masing should not worry about the reactions of other elected representatives and PRS followers as they were never interested and bothered in the first place.

He added that the third option was to force Masing to resign.

“They (Taib and company) can push PRS and Masing into a corner and force Sng down his throat.

“Then they could force Masing to resign from the party and leave the political scene completely,” said Ngumbang.

But he added that question now is whether Joseph Entulu, PRS deputy president and Joseph Salang, the party’s information chief, would follow suit or will they carry the PRS torch without Masing?

Ngumbang recently resigned from PRS as he could not stand Taib’s bullying attitude towards the party.

Commenting on Ngumbang’s suggestion, a veteran Iban politician said: “Masing should consider pulling out of the state BN as that will ultimately lead PRS to merge with Sarawak National Party (SNAP).

“The merger of all Dayak-based parties is the dream of all the Dayaks in the state.

“The time has come for all the Dayaks to be united under one political umbrella,” he said, adding that the Dayaks have been disunited for the last 30 years.

“The Dayaks have lost so much in terms of native customary rights land, their privileges, their rights and development,” he added.

Caring godfather

Meanwhile, Taib is certain of helping Sng in his present problem as he made a promise to his business ally Ting that he would look after his son-in-law (Larry Sng).

“Don’t worry Ting, your son-in-law is just like my son. I will do my best to help him,” Taib had reportedly told Ting when Sng was sacked from PRS in 2009.

Recently, the BN rejected Sng’s application to be a direct member of BN, thus his opportunity to contest in Pelagus or as a BN member is lost.

But Taib on his return to Kuching said he would look into Sng’s problem as he a “strong supporter of BN and has been working very hard”.