KUCHING: There seems to be no positive end to the talks on the proposed merger of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS). At least that is how it looks like for now. SPDP deputy president Datuk Peter Nyarok Entrie, who heads the party’s merger committee, said as much when he told reporters yesterday that the two Barisan Nasional (BN) components “are still talking about it”.
A none-too convincing sounding Nyarok said it was his hope that a stronger merged entity would surface before the next state polls but in the same breadth blurted out: “There is no conclusion on the merger talk yet because at the moment we are still talking.” Nonetheless, with the next state election at least two years away, Nyarok and company certainly have no less than 24 months to continue talking. “I think it is possible depending on our discussion. Hopefully it will come into reality before the state election. We still have plenty of time to talk because the election is still far away,” he said when met at the State-Level Secondary School Cooperatives Quality Award presentation at the Civic Centre here yesterday.
But how much have the negotiating parties covered? The answer to that may not be clear cut as yet but if SPDP-PRS meeting on the night of June 18 is any yardstick, there is indeed very little to indicate progress. On that night, it was said that the two parties “took a major step” towards their merger process when they agreed to shortlist three out of seven names proposed for their new merged entity - Bersatu Rakyat Sarawak (Beras), Demokratik Rakyat Sarawak (Deras) and Bersatu Progresif Rakyat Sarawak (BPRS). The three names were announced at a press conference after a brief meeting between the merger committees of the two parties at Toh Yuen Restaurant in Hilton Kuching Hotel about 10.30pm.
SPDP secretary-general Sylvester Entrie Muran said they hoped to get feedback from the grounds on which of the three names was most suitable for their merged party. Nothing, however, has been heard of the result of that ground feedback that was supposed to be gathered. In fact, as soon as the proposed three names were bandied around, observers responded saying they were skeptical about the whole merger proposal because of the existence of “too many generals inside the (two) parties”. They even went on to say that the very process of the merger would bring about unhealthy politicking. In fact, they said, there was no urgency for any of the two parties to merge.
This was despite Nyarok’s earlier contention that after several meetings between the merger committees, “we both agreed on the merger in the best interest of our parties.”Nyarok is assisted by Entrie and SPDP senior vice-president Peter Nansian Ngusie in the SPDP merger committee while his PRS counterpart is vice-president Datuk Billy Abit Joo, who is being assisted by vice-president John Sikie Tayai and secretary-general Wilfred Nissom.
A none-too convincing sounding Nyarok said it was his hope that a stronger merged entity would surface before the next state polls but in the same breadth blurted out: “There is no conclusion on the merger talk yet because at the moment we are still talking.” Nonetheless, with the next state election at least two years away, Nyarok and company certainly have no less than 24 months to continue talking. “I think it is possible depending on our discussion. Hopefully it will come into reality before the state election. We still have plenty of time to talk because the election is still far away,” he said when met at the State-Level Secondary School Cooperatives Quality Award presentation at the Civic Centre here yesterday.
But how much have the negotiating parties covered? The answer to that may not be clear cut as yet but if SPDP-PRS meeting on the night of June 18 is any yardstick, there is indeed very little to indicate progress. On that night, it was said that the two parties “took a major step” towards their merger process when they agreed to shortlist three out of seven names proposed for their new merged entity - Bersatu Rakyat Sarawak (Beras), Demokratik Rakyat Sarawak (Deras) and Bersatu Progresif Rakyat Sarawak (BPRS). The three names were announced at a press conference after a brief meeting between the merger committees of the two parties at Toh Yuen Restaurant in Hilton Kuching Hotel about 10.30pm.
SPDP secretary-general Sylvester Entrie Muran said they hoped to get feedback from the grounds on which of the three names was most suitable for their merged party. Nothing, however, has been heard of the result of that ground feedback that was supposed to be gathered. In fact, as soon as the proposed three names were bandied around, observers responded saying they were skeptical about the whole merger proposal because of the existence of “too many generals inside the (two) parties”. They even went on to say that the very process of the merger would bring about unhealthy politicking. In fact, they said, there was no urgency for any of the two parties to merge.
This was despite Nyarok’s earlier contention that after several meetings between the merger committees, “we both agreed on the merger in the best interest of our parties.”Nyarok is assisted by Entrie and SPDP senior vice-president Peter Nansian Ngusie in the SPDP merger committee while his PRS counterpart is vice-president Datuk Billy Abit Joo, who is being assisted by vice-president John Sikie Tayai and secretary-general Wilfred Nissom.
Abit is in fact a new introduction, replacing vice- president Datuk Dublin Unting Ingkot, who is indisposed since falling into a coma last May 22. SPDP and PRS are both rural-based, claiming multi-racialism but insisting on being led by Dayak presidents. Both delivered 100 per cent performance for the BN in the last parliamentary election. SPDP is headed by Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom who is Minister of Social Development and Urbanisation while PRS, by Dato Sri Dr James Jemut Masing who is Minister of Land Development.
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