BN meeting this month to decide on PRS status
Tony ThienPublished: Jun 8, 2005 3:43 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
The Barisan Nasional supreme council is expected to meet at this end of this month to discuss the application submitted more than six months ago by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) to join the BN.
The Barisan Nasional supreme council is expected to meet at this end of this month to discuss the application submitted more than six months ago by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) to join the BN.
The Borneo Post, a local English daily, has reported June 20 as the date of the BN meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. But other sources have mentioned two different dates - June 28 and June 30.
"It looks like the meeting will be sometime at the end of June," according to PRS information chief Wilfred Nissom, who is also a political secretary to the chief minister.
The BN supreme council not met since late last year due to the busy schedule of the prime minister and the lack of urgent matters. A meeting was scheduled three months ago on Abdullah's return from an overseas visit but it was cancelled at the last minute without any reason being given.
PRS, formed after the de-registration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), has nine elected elected representatives - six state assemblypersons and three members of Parliament. PBDS' remaining five elected representatives - three MPs and two assemblypersons - are still without a party as they have refused to join PRS.
Malaysiakini understands that the BN's decision on PRS' application to join BN is linked to the future status of the five partyless elected representatives.
Some political analysts say moves by a group of Dayak intellectuals recently to form the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) appear to have expeditied decision on the status of the partyless five, and that it has even been suggested that if MDC is approved in time, its application could even be submitted in time for the BN meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
MDC pro tem head Nicholas Bawin, when contacted today, declined even to speculate when the party's application might receive a reply from the authorities. But he told malaysiakini recently he was confident it would be approved.
'We can wait'
Meanwhile, PRS president Dr James Masing was quoted by the Borneo Post last week as saying that he hoped there would be no postponement to the BN meeting but added that if it had to come to that again "we are patient enough to wait."
PRS' application to join the BN is generally thought as a foregone conclusion by most people, but the reason for its long delay in being accepted in the BN, although already endorsed by the state BN, has led to a lot of speculation.
Other than the equation on the partyless five from the defunct PBDS, it is speculated that the trouble could be within the PRS supreme council.
"It is even suggested that unless there are some changes in the line-up, they could present a stumbling block to PRS' application to join BN," one reliable source said.
TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.
The Borneo Post, a local English daily, has reported June 20 as the date of the BN meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. But other sources have mentioned two different dates - June 28 and June 30.
"It looks like the meeting will be sometime at the end of June," according to PRS information chief Wilfred Nissom, who is also a political secretary to the chief minister.
The BN supreme council not met since late last year due to the busy schedule of the prime minister and the lack of urgent matters. A meeting was scheduled three months ago on Abdullah's return from an overseas visit but it was cancelled at the last minute without any reason being given.
PRS, formed after the de-registration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), has nine elected elected representatives - six state assemblypersons and three members of Parliament. PBDS' remaining five elected representatives - three MPs and two assemblypersons - are still without a party as they have refused to join PRS.
Malaysiakini understands that the BN's decision on PRS' application to join BN is linked to the future status of the five partyless elected representatives.
Some political analysts say moves by a group of Dayak intellectuals recently to form the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) appear to have expeditied decision on the status of the partyless five, and that it has even been suggested that if MDC is approved in time, its application could even be submitted in time for the BN meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
MDC pro tem head Nicholas Bawin, when contacted today, declined even to speculate when the party's application might receive a reply from the authorities. But he told malaysiakini recently he was confident it would be approved.
'We can wait'
Meanwhile, PRS president Dr James Masing was quoted by the Borneo Post last week as saying that he hoped there would be no postponement to the BN meeting but added that if it had to come to that again "we are patient enough to wait." PRS' application to join the BN is generally thought as a foregone conclusion by most people, but the reason for its long delay in being accepted in the BN, although already endorsed by the state BN, has led to a lot of speculation.
Other than the equation on the partyless five from the defunct PBDS, it is speculated that the trouble could be within the PRS supreme council.
"It is even suggested that unless there are some changes in the line-up, they could present a stumbling block to PRS' application to join BN," one reliable source said.
TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.
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