“Angry SPDP members have called for the party leaders to pull out of BN over its exclusion from the federal cabinet despite delivering four parliamentary seats.” — see FMT report (17 May 2013)
Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party fielded candidates for the parliamentary seats of Mas Gading, Saratok, Bintulu and Baram in GE13.
SPDP reps Nogeh Anak Gumbek, William Mawan Ikom, Tiong King Sing and Anyi Ngau all won their seats, notching a 4/4 scorecard.
Meanwhile, Parti Rakyat Sarawak had fielded six candidates in the parliamentary seats of Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Julau, Kanowit, Selangau and Hulu Rajang.
PRS reps Masir Anak Kujat, William @ Nyallau Anak Badak, Joseph Salang Anak Gandum, Ago Anak Dagang, Joseph Entulu Anak Belaun and Ugak Anak Kumbong — what green and eco-friendly names they all have! — won their seats too, scoring a 6/6 tally.
Both parties between them delivered 10 Parliament seats to BN. Please juxtapose this info against the MCA’s seven seats obtained on life support from Malay semi-rural voters.
PRS president James Masing said the party supreme council rejected Najib’s offer of one minister and one deputy minister’s post, and felt that they were “sidelined” and “deserved to be treated better.”
Masing was quoted by FMT (17 May 2013) as cautioning: “The rural areas in Sarawak are Barisan Nasional ‘fixed deposit’. If you don’t take care of it, somebody will come by and withdraw it”.
Among the complaints by the Sarawakian Dayaks:
(1) PRS’s Joseph Entulu was offered to be Minister in the PM’s Department. His party feels that it is not “an appropriate portfolio”. They prefer a portfolio that “could be of assistance to the rural people, portfolios such as Infrastructure and Agriculture”.
(2) PRS’s Joseph Salang was offered to be Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture. Again his party feels that such a position is not of any assistance to the rural people.
Their argument makes sense, does it not?
(3) Masing revealed that the party was initially offered two deputy ministers’ posts which they felt was an insult because the party had delivered on its pledge to BN, FMT reported.
“But it wasn’t until Masing informed Najib that PRS felt they were being sidelined and would not attend the swearing in ceremony that the PM tweaked his list before announcing it on Wednesday (May 15). In the new list, he named Entulu a full minister”, according to FMT.
(4) SPDP pointed out that MIC which won 4 Parliament seats (contested 9, lost 5) was rewarded with two full minister and two deputy minister portfolios.
However SPDP which similarly won 4 Parliament seats on a perfect record was not given any ministerial post at all.
The MIC reps in the Cabinet are:
(i) G. Palanivel (Cameron Highlands)/MIC President – Minister of Natural Resources and Environment
(ii) Dr S. Subramaniam (Segamat)/MIC Deputy President – Minister of Health
(iii) M. Saravanan (Tapah)/MIC Vice President – Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports
(iv) P. Kamalanathan (Hulu Selangor)/MIC Putera Coordinator – Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Learning
“A major disappointment”
Read ‘Dayaks bitter over cabinet choices‘ (FMT, 17 May 2013)
PRS president James Masing lamented, ““Something is wrong somewhere”.
Masing was quoted by FMT as saying Najib’s cabinet had not rewarded loyalists as could be seen in the lack of any allocations for SPDP and the shortfall on PRS’s. “Politics normally is not kind to the losers, but (Najib must) reward those who win,” he added.
Absolutely.
Masing added that PRS’s 1-and-½ ministerial appointments did not commensurate with the party’s contribution to BN’s win.
Absolutely x2.
My questions are these:
(1) Why is Paul Low Seng Kwan appointed a senator and made a full minister?
He did not even contest the general election and does not have any political party which contributed to the BN’s win.
(2) Why did Najib Razak leave the Transport Ministry open (Hishamuddin Hussein is acting Minister in addition to his own Ministry of Defence portfolio) and on offer to the MCA?
(3) Is it necessary for the MIC to be given the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment considering how the party has been floundering? If MIC had performed to expectations, it is doubtful that Najib would have agreed to parley with Hindraf.
(4) The Sarawakian parties had indicated that the Ministry of Agriculture would have been suitable for them as holders of the rural vote bank.
Presently Najib has given the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry to Umno — both the positions of Minister (Ismail Sabri Yaakob) and the Deputy Minister (Tajuddin Abdul Rahman).
As it is, the Cabinet spilleth over with Umno men and women.
Don’t play-play with Anak Badak and Anak Gumbek
The Sarawak MPs sound pretty robust. If angry, they might charge.
Without the Sabah and Sarawak parties, BN has 100 seats in the peninsula.
If the two dissatisfied Sarawak parties pull out their 10 MPs, then BN will be left with 123 Parliament seats and the opposition upping to 99, leaving the ruling coalition with a majority of 24 seats.
This majority of 24 can be lost should 12 MPs jump ship. Urm, is Najib secretly coveting Anwar Ibrahim’s job as leader of the federal opposition?
Helen Ang 
I thought it was obvious, Najib is more worried about UMNO party elections than Sarawakian defections.
Najib is still kow towing to the Chinese thus Paul Low and vacant Transport M. He wants to tell the Chinese he is the Prime Minister for all and he is serious of getting the rasuah issues solved.
As for MIC, I couldn’t agree more with you Helen, Pala dismal 400 (majority) votes doesn’t deserved a Ministerial post and to be given four posts is just one too many.
He already made Waytha a senator he doesn’t need to kow tow to MIC too. Pala needs to be asked to strengthening the Indians support.
Sarawak leaders demand are legit and more ministerial posts should be given to these lot you have mentioned Helen.
But I guess when you have a weak leader (by the polls result), you will get this mixed up and poor decisions being made. Especially when certain quarters are insinuating that its time for UMNO to ubah internally with KJ and Pak L grinning without ends.
Its true. Najib has to go and Muhyudin will take over.
the transition could well be underway as we speak. after all Tun M did say that Najib’s future is in the hands of Umno members. someone is already being lined up to take over. as to the identity of that person, we will only know in the upcoming Umno party elections. this is getting very interesting.
Remove Hishamuddin as Defence Minister. give his seat to Sarawakians. Take away the Transport Ministry from MCA. Give that seat allocation to Sarawakians too.
Setuju sangat-sangat … mengapa mengharap kepada yg dah kata tak mahu sebarang jawatan ?
Beri saja Tansport tu kpd Sarawak … salah ke ?
Hindraf masuk kabinet tu … betul ke salah ?
Tak lama lah tu !!!
Setuju, give the transport minister seat to PRS, why Hisahmuddin have to take 2 seats, semasa jaga KDN pun tak cekap!
Najib should resign – people first performance now – dia tak perform; plays politics not peoples first.
Bagi je lah kat Sabah Sarawak – apa masalahnya. Tak payah lah kisah sangat being 1Malaysia crap.
Yang dah tak nak undi kita dah tak undi … DAP Chinese, Malay liberals …. nak jaga diorang ni lagi kenapa.
tsunami dayak pulak lepas ni…
Pendapat ahli ahli politik Sarawak dan Helan memang logic. Cuma jangan ungkit kalau UMNO dapat lebih kerusi menteri kerana UMNO menang 88 kerusi ( 66.1665 ). Kalau ikutkan jumlah menteri yang dilantik lebih sedikit dari separuh MP UMNO.
Memang benar beri MIC lebih apa ke halnya? Sudahlah banyak kerusi diperuntukkan kalah jumlah penduduk India pun tidak sampai 10%. Lebih bahaya kalau dua parti Sarawak keluar BN daripada MIC.
DSN menggali kubur politiknya pada PRU 14. Malah mungkin lebih awal daripada itu?
Minister post is to serve the public, not for particular party or race.
The Dayak leaders in Sarawak have a problem & it is Najib.
Prior to PRS & SPDP, the two parties “representing” the Dayaks were SNAP & PBDS. The former were mainly made up of Bidayuhs while the latter, Ibans.
SNAP was viewed with suspicion by many Dayaks mainly because the president for many years was James Wong, a Chinese. It didn’t sit well with many Dayaks that a Chinese should lead a party whose membership is 99% Dayak.
This issue eventually led to SNAP leaving BN & ultimately deregistered by ROS. The majority of the leaders who left SNAP formed SPDP in the early 2000s.
PBDS was a party whose base were made of Ibans. They played a major role in the Ming Court affair of the 80s where they attempted to overthrow Taib Mahmud’s administration. Taib out manoeuvred them by calling for a snap election which his coalition won. Masing was a major player in the Ming Court affair but was offered a chance by Taib to return to BN.
PBDS then had a similar issue as SNAP where a power struggle led to the birth of PRS. Masing was then supported by Sng Chee Hua, a timber tycoon who was also an MP.
It was said that Masing owed Sng big time as Sng provided financial support to PRS & Masing in its infancy. Sng then gave way to his son Larry to contest his seat Pelagus in 2001 state elections. Larry went on to be a 2 term ADUN & Taib’s blue eyed boy. Somewhere around 09-10, Larry got himself into the bad books of Masing due to yep, you guessed it, a power struggle.
As a result of this, Larry was sacked by Masing. After some hoo-haa with PRS having 2 presidents & ROS’s intervention, Masing was declared the rightful president & Larry formed SWP. As Larry was not nominated to defend Pelagus in 2011 elections, he placed his uncle, George Lagong as an independent there. It was the only seat won by an independent in the elections.
Going back to SPDP. In the mid 00s, a proposal on the merger of SPDP-PRS cropped up. A committee was convened by both parties with the SPDP side led by Sylvester Entrie. As talks were progressing, president William Mawan inexplicably sacked a few office bearers including Entrie & Dr Tiki Lafe, then a federal deputy minister.
This led to the mass resignation from the party of 5 ADUNs & 1MP. The 6 however remained loyal to BN. It was said that among the concessions discussed in the merger talks was of younger leaders leading the new entity which did not sit well with Mawan.
Mawan himself is no stranger to throwing a hissy fit in public. In ’11 just before the election, he stormed off just minutes before Adenan Satem announced the candidates for BN due to his insistence on replacing the popular Nelson Balan Ringin. Nelson won his seat in a by election after the death of Dr Judson Sakai Tagal in a helicopter crash in 04.
Nelson defended the seat in the 06 elections but was replaced in 11 by Willie Nyau. The seat was then lost to PKR’s Baru Bian.
I can’t say I know much about Anyi Ngau but Tiong King Sing is known for his involvement in the PKFZ scandal but was not replaced which supposedly didn’t sit well with BN. Nogeh I know personally & he’s a reluctant candidate, only contesting as the first choice of Mawan, Harry Henry Ginep is seen by the local populace as a backstabber as he was the protege of Dr Tiki, the incumbent MP & Peter Nansian, the 4 term ADUN. Had Harry stood, he would have been given a good trouncing.
As for Mawan, Saratok was said to be dark shade of grey until BN unleashed their big guns including the PM in the last days of campaigning. This is due to the fact that Mawan is an outsider & is believed to be eyeing a cabinet position. He was also accused of leaving out long time but increasingly disgruntled loyalist Jelaing Mersat to accommodate his candidacy.
Going back to the Dayak leaders’ problem, it is themselves. They fight each other too much. SNAP & PBDS gave birth to SPDP, PRS & STAR. The Dayaks are splintered & distrust reigns.
In PBB & SUPP (despite the latter being predominantly Chinese party), the Dayak leaders are more accommodating, open to discussion without threats of pullout, sackings etc. Leaders in both parties like James Dawos, Richard Riot, Ranum Mina, Dr Jerip Susil etc are well known to be hardworking types without much bickering unlike SPDP & PRS.
As such, in my opinion, if both parties wanna pull out of BN, that’s their prerogative & good riddance. I’m quite sure that SUPP can reinvent themselves to be less Chinese centric if Richard Riot is given a chance to lead them.
With PBB anchoring the state’s BN, rural votes shouldn’t be lost. After all in the last state elections the three rural seats which were lost to George Lagong & PKR’s Ali Biju & Baru Bian were due to infighting. Even the popular Gabriel Adit Demong who won 2 elections as an independent lost as the rural folks would always end up choosing the dacing.
So in conclusion, both Masing & Mawan should just shut up & not hold anyone at ransom. After all, I’m sure they have avenues to voice their grievances in private. By going public with their discontent, they’ve lost the tactical advantage & believe me when I say that if a state election is called this year with these dissidents going against unknown local BN candidates, chances are they’ll end up losing.
Anyways, I don’t believe the candidates are qualified to be ministers. They can’t communicate well in English or BM, relying on their native tongue & the Sarawak local Malay speak. I think that would reflect badly on our country’s administration if we were to appoint ministers with a weak grasp of the two primary languages in the country.
the Cabinet lineup unveiled by Najib is a temporary lineup, a stopgap. I seriously doubt he will survive Umno’s upcoming party elections. when the new man takes the helm of the party, we will see a reshuffle. the Dayaks will then get what they want from this new leader.
Hajib is desperate. he knows he’s not going to make it. but then again, I could be wrong. he could survive, but his chances are not looking that good. the vultures are circling on him.
His biggest enemies IMO would be Muhyiddin & Zahid Hamidi since you’d expect Hishamuddin to stand by him. Would be sad to see him go tho’ if it comes down to that as I believe he’s quite sincere in reaching out to others. Just that there are limitations to all that reaching out due to political considerations & realities.
Semua org rasa mereka layak, habis siapa yang tak layak? Anwar juga rasa dia layak dan masih terus menjerit melolong.
I agree… Sarawak can also be rewarded in other forms… ingat kerja menteri main2 ke? DSN is a shrewed PM… he may not be a loud mouth like Anwar, but he is sincere in transform the country to be better than it is today…
i do not know what najib is thinking. does he?
Najib shouldn’t have appointed too many Indian ministers (MIC & Hindraf). And a minister for Paul Low? Totally unnecessary. You can reward but it must be proportionate.
This is my opinion.
Najib need to reasons witht this guys. He need to explain to them that although they get the different minestry it should not hinder them from transform their state aka serawak to be better than before. Full minestry and a daputy is better than nothing at all.
My take some rather seeing that minestry under PM department don’t do much. But,
Some people forget that minestry of PM department has a lot of influance rather than direcly incharge of certain minestry. Look at what happen before. (Guess even MP didn’t make a reaserch what’s best for their constitution if they had a full or deputy minestry under their belt). Using those influence, they can improve their constitution and make it better.
Also under PM department, they have the first hand information what PM will plan to do, those increase a chance for them to improve their constitution. Also, under this department will ensure they will see the big picture of overall plan for country developtment. Thus, as a minestry of PM department, they have an influents to direct the improvment to their constitution.
That why some convert to be place under this department.
:] sarah
Yes, I agree with you. The ministers under PM Dept usually have very focused tasks in hand. Easier access to the PM (same building ma…) and I’d say easy to get money for their special pet projects.
They can quietly do their stuffs without attracting too much attention.
Kenapa ya kita tidak memberi lebih kerusi kepada Sarawak? Saya cukup hairan kes MIC & MCA esp MCA ni. Why is BN giving so much face to extinct parties? Maybe dalam BN, MCA holds the purse strings.
In the old days, i.e. early 1950s, MCA money funded the Umno election machinery.
However by the time KuLi become Umno treasurer, the party had already realised that they needed to create their own finances.
Umno’s also got billions in assets. This was publicly revealed during the deregistration when KuLi’s supporters took the case to court following his loss to Dr M for the party presidency.
Is it not the top ministerial advisor to the Prime Minister, a Sarawakian ?
Kekadang nak jer tanyer…
siapa lah penasihat Najib nie??…
nazri yang pernah luahkan tak mahu bertanding PRU 13…was given a Ministry??
Mungkin ada benar nya , Najib idamkan Kerusi Ketua Pembangkang kot….
saya pun rasa ada tak kena dengan penasihat dia…dia kena check dia punya inner circle…
That’s it…… The Unlawful Pakatan Rakyat has been shouting that the ruling Govt is corrupted. Nobody likes corruption. Therefore, those in power (be it BN, opposition, judiciary, administrator, GLC and private sectors) must be seen clean. But sadly today, even those in the Jabatan Agama receiving bribes.
I have behind me 36 years’ working experience in multi national corporations and I’ve witnessed ‘intakes’ and siphoning by the big guns but nobody give a damn as long as the Company is still in good shape & makes profit. And you know what….. they are mostly Chinese!
My concern now is leadership. PM Najib is not a thinker like his late father or Tun Mahathir. He works hard but not smart. He is too generous and try to be a popular instead of effective leader. He has been misled by the ‘Sleeping Tun Dol’s henchmen and I’m afraid his Transformation agenda could turn out to be a Deform. However, by the Gracious of Allah SWT (RAHMAN), UMNO grassroots and the loyalty Malays/Bumiputeras saved him. I hope he realise this before its too late.
hmm.. ‘najib late father tun mahathir’??
My dad and uncle (both living in Sarawak) were just talking about this the other day. The problem seems to stem from the fact that Richard Riot is given a full minister post when his party (SUPP) did not perform well. But they both felt that Riot is given the post because he is a Bidayuh, to even out the race representation in the cabinet.
SPDP and PRS are both Iban parties, and the Ibans are the people PR leaders have been targeting in their campaigns here using the NCR land issues. Not surprising if their leaders have been ‘dicucuk2’ by certain parties to add to the general air of disgruntlement.