Abang Johari, who is also deputy chief minister, told reporters today that he did not expect PBB to make a unilateral decision on whether to accept the applications or not.
“In the spirit of BN, what we’ll do is, once we get the decision, we will consult with the component parties.”
The assemblymen include former Sarawak People’s Energy Party (Teras) President and Saratok MP William Mawan, who resigned with two others to contest in the May 7 state election as BN direct candidates.
Three assemblymen, formerly from the United People’s Party (UPP) and PBB, also wish to apply for membership.
“We give them time to think it over. You know, we have done it before.
“In 1987, people from the other groups joined us, the late Datuk (Balan) Seling, the late Datuk Michael Ben Panggi and, of course, Gramong Juna,” said Abang Johari, referring to former PBDS leaders who left to join PBB.
“What we did was we asked them to go back to the grassroots, find out whether they wanted to join or not. And we gave them ample time to consider.
“So that is the way we do it, because PBB is not a party that wants to grab people. We have enough, 40 (seats). But you must give them a choice also. I mean, if they want us, it’s difficult for us to say ‘no’,” Abang Johari said.
PBB currently controls 40 of the 82 state seats. Should PBB control 42 seats, it will be able to form a state government on its own.
Dayak-based PRS controls 11 seats, while Chinese-majority SUPP and Dayak-majority SPDP control seven and three seats respectively.