PBB the Political Opportunist

By Sebanaku Sarawak

SIBU: Barely 48 hours after Sarawak National Party (SNAP) deputy president Ting Ling Kiew declared that the decision to join Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Sarawak as invalid, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) wants to take advantage of the crisis in the party.

Its secretary general Dr. Stephen Rundi Utom today urged Ting and his supporters to join any state Barisan Nasional (BN) component party!!!

He challenged them to do so because to him that is the only way to show Ting and his supporters are subscribing to the BN spirit.

Apparently Rundi wants SNAP to further split by making the call as he knows that Ting was suspended by SNAP for his role in supporting BN in the last Batang Ai by-election in 2009.

However, it is unknown whether Ting is keen to jump ship because he harbours hopes that he could continue to be with SNAP.

He knows that even if other BN parties would willingly accept he and his supporters, he would not be able to demand for a higher position in the party which he has joined.

Therefore, politically it is a good bet for him to stay on with SNAP and work his way to dump the party president Edwin Dundang.

Interestingly, Ting also claimed that the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has assured him that SNAP is still a BN component party at the federal level.

This will certainly be strong motivations for Ting and his supporters to get rid of Edwin and subsequently take the party's helm.

On his claim that the decision to join PR is invalid, Ting pointed out that the decision was never discussed at the party’s central executive committee meeting (CEC), or agreed upon at the national council (NC) meeting.

“Under the party’s constitution, all party decisions must go through the NC, but the party has not even called an NC meeting for more than two years," claimed Ting who had urged the SNAP supporters yesterday to vote for the BN candidate in the coming Sibu by-election..

SNAP was part of the State BN when it's place was taken over by Sarawak Democratic and Progressive Party (SPDP) - a party formed by Datuk Sri William Mawan as a result for a political tussle for the top leadership in SNAP.