The nine were formerly with United People’s Party and Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak. They must first seek the views of their constituents about their application to join the PBB, said PBB president Adenan Satem.
PBB is the dominant party in Sarawak Barisan Nasional and holds 40 of the BN’s 72 seats in the 82-member state assembly. The applications by the nine direct candidates, if accepted, would allow PBB to form the state government on its own.
“We are asking the nine to reconsider their decision, go back to their constituencies, and ask their constituents what they they ought to do,” Adenan told reporters after chairing PBB’s supreme council meeting at the party’s headquarters here today.
“If they after consulting with their constituents, insist on joining PBB, then we have no choice but to entertain their application favourably,” Adenan said.
Asked about PBB’s dominance in the assembly, Adenan said, “We will see what happens after they have reapplied, or after they have reconsidered the thing. It is too early to comment.”
Barisan Nasional controls 72 seats comprising PBB holds 40, the Dayak-based Parti Rakyat Sarawak (11), Chinese-majority Sarawak United People’s Party (7) and Dayak-majority Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (3). There are 11 BN-Direct members.
PRS president Dr James Jemut Masing has previously said the PBB should not expand its hold beyond its current 40 seats, which would otherwise render other BN components “irrelevant”.
“If PBB has more than 41 seats, it means the notion of a coalition government is null and void because PBB can form the state government by a simple majority,” Masing was quoted as saying in April.
Some SUPP leaders have also warned against increased PBB dominance. SUPP information chief Adam Yii advised “extreme caution on how PBB proceeds with the matter”.
“SUPP is keeping a vigilant eye on this development as it will have far-reaching impact on Sarawak and its future. The final decision by PBB on this matter will create a political trend,” Yii said in a statement on behalf of the party.
UPP is a splinter party that broke away from SUPP in May 2014. It’s former president Wong Soon Koh had resigned to contest, and was elected in Bawang Assan.
In May, he lamented on the lack of a PBB decision on applications by three former UPP leaders who had left with him in 2014. “All these years, since SUPP and later in UPP, we have agreed to sink or swim together. We have said so many times, yet this happened,” Wong had said.