Masing (centre, seated) poses with his supreme council members after the meeting.
KUCHING: State BN component parties still subscribe to ‘merger of minds’, a notion that they have each other to watch out for ‘outside forces’, said PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing.
“We are still interested in the pursuit of merger of minds among the four BN component parties of Sarawak. We will work together to ensure they are not being disturbed by forces from outside.
“As one of our members said, you touch one, you touch all. That is the rule of the game that we play, and that rule has kept us strong over the years,” he told a press conference after chairing PRS’s Supreme Council meeting here yesterday.
Masing, who is also Minister of Land Development, said ‘merger of minds’ meant “they act together and help each other in time of disturbance from outside”.
“That we think together, act the same, sharing the same objective and direction. Not merger of physical. It is a merger of thinking that is going to reinforce it (BN spirit).”
Asked what he meant by ‘outside forces’, he replied: “Anybody who is not BN. Outside forces include the DAP and PKR.”
Pressed whether it included Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) and United People’s Party (UPP), he shot back, “Are they members of BN? They are outside forces all the same.”
“You touch one, you touch all. That is how we operate. You do not change the laws for the sake of one or two. You keep the laws strong for the benefit of the
group, not for the benefits of individuals. You don’t change the laws for the benefit of a few individuals.”
Whether PRS was against UPP and Teras being accepted into the fold of BN, Masing said: “No, not against. Just do not disturb BN members. I hope when people disturb us, SUPP and SPDP help us out. So does PBB, and work with us.”
On notes that PBB seemed to be supportive of Teras and UPP, he said: “Your assumption. I will see when the election comes. Then we know. We do not speculate too much.”
He said even though Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri Muran had been declared by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem to contest under the ticket of BN, Adenan did not specify the party the incumbent would be representing.
“He did not say Teras. He did not say he’s a winnable candidate for Teras. I read carefully from the chief minister’s statement … he said he (Sylvester) would be a candidate for BN, full stop.
“I do not think he said that (for Teras), which opens up speculations and you (media) speculate wrongly from the statement.”
Asked whether Sylvester would contest as a direct BN candidate, Masing said, “That is your assumption. We do not speculate at this stage.”
“The chief minister is very smart. He said he would contest under the ticket of BN, but he did not say which party. So our assumption is slightly different than yours.
“We are optimistic that since Marudi is from SPDP, he must be standing for SPDP. But we do not want to speculate. We just want to leave it like that. Let SPDP decide, how they read the statement.”