PBB sec-gen denies party taking Bengoh from SUPP

Borneo Post

Posted on March 15, 2011, Tuesday

KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) secretary-general Dr Stephen Rundi dismissed talks that his party was interested to take over Bengoh seat from Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) as mere “political rumours”.

This is because PBB had always been loyal to its fellow component parties in Barisan Nasional (BN) and would never resort to any tactic to undermine any component party, he pointed out.

“It is never in our agenda to backstab a fellow component party in BN. We will always cooperate with all the parties in BN,” he said when contacted yesterday.

PBB supreme council member Datuk Dr James Dawos was the first to respond to the rumours when he was asked by the press last Saturday.

He had said as far as BN was concerned, Bengoh was and would continue to belong to SUPP unless there was a seat swapping agreement.

“This rumour is new to me…but whether PBB takes Bengoh, I don’t know (about it) and I don’t want to speculate,” he was quoted to have said by the press.

Bengoh assemblyman Dr Jerip Susil, who has been holding the seat since 2001, responded to the rumours by putting the blame on the opposition whom he said was attempting to cause rivalry in BN.

He revealed that the rumours were spun because the opposition’s prospective candidate Willy Mongin, who is related to PBB Bengoh branch vice chief Munded Banat, had been attending official functions organised by PBB and even bought up tables and sponsored song requests.

Dr Jerip, however, was confident that PBB members in the constituency would give their utmost support to him and SUPP in the coming state election.

“I know the PBB boys (in Bengoh) very well. They are disciplined and a good hardworking group. They are always very close to our ‘perjuangan’ (struggle),” he said.

Meanwhile PBB vice-youth chief Pandi Suhaili said the opposition was trying to divert the

rakyat’s attention from their internal problems as recently 194 people left Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to join SUPP.

“We have anticipated in the past that many members or supporters of PKR would quit to join us in BN because some of the party top leaders had left the party.

“These members or supporters were disillusioned with the party’s struggles which claimed to fight for justice but left many issues unresolved during the party’s election last year,” he said, adding PKR should clean its house first before trying to be the people’s champion.