QUICK TAKE: Last time, it was Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) president William Mawan advising Barisan Nasional (BN): Don’t turn BN into an exclusive club.
For him to say that it must be that he was seeing something that the BN leaders did not see – that BN was fast becoming an exclusive club.
Strange that BN, with members numbering in the millions and leaders who rule in all the states, except Kelantan, Penang and Selangor, did not realise that the coalition was turning into an exclusive club.
If BN is an exclusive club, what is Teras?
I still don’t quite understand Teras, but if some of the statements of their leaders are anything to go by, it is a party of a number of smart people, who, like Mawan, see things that not even the many smart people in BN can see.
Another smart statement was issued by Teras deputy president Peter Nansian who said no single Barisan Nasional (BN) party can claim any of the 82 state seats and that any party can nominate candidates for all those seats.
s that so? If that were true, on what basis did the parties come together to form the BN coalition? On zero strength? On nothing but just names – Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)?
No seats, no nothing?
Are we to believe that the parties all gave their seats to the BN at the time they agreed to join the coalition? That, therefore, they each had not a single seat because these were all put into the BN basket to be taken out and allocated to the parties at the whims and fancies of the BN chairman come each state election?
So every time an election comes, the seats are up for grabs and PBB, PRS, SUPP and SPDP are expected to name any number of candidates for any seats and no one should be angry. No party should feel threatened.
Going by Nansian’s statement, no party should talk about traditionally allocated seats. PBB has no claims over those 35 seats traditionally allocated to the party.
PRS has no exclusive rights over its nine seats, neither does SUPP over those 19 seats nor SPDP over its traditional eight.
It is hard to see Adenan sharing Nansian’s view, because there is no such a thing as the BN basket.
Every component party came in with a set of seats on which their standing in the coalition was assessed.
They did not come in dispossessed of their seats as intimated by Nansian.
Nansian was quoted as saying: “Let me tell them this. No single party owns any particular seat. All seats belong to BN and only the top leadership has the sole right to decide who they want to represent BN.”
Is that why Teras insists on putting all its five eggs into the so-called BN basket?
If that were true, it is still unfortunate for Teras because it is not a BN member and the top BN leadership does not include Mawan and him.
The BN leadership is made up of Adenan Satem, Dr James Masing, Dr Sim Kui Hian and Tiong King Sing, it is highly unlikely that these gentlemen will be bothered with returning Teras’ five eggs.-The Ant Daily
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