PBRS yet to decide on duo

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) is in no hurry to decide on a bid by two former opposition assemblymen to join the state Barisan Nasional component.

Party secretary-general Datuk Johnson Tee said they would respect the sensitivities of other Sabah Barisan parties before making a decision on the applications of Matung­gong’s Jeremy Malajad and his Luyang counterpart Hiew King Chew.

He added that PBRS received the applications about two months ago.

Tee said the earliest any decision could be made by the party was next month.

“Until then, they (Malajad and Hiew) are considered friends of Barisan,” he said.

Waiting for consensus: Malajad (left) and Hiew.

 

Tee, however, added that PBRS had accepted the applications of some 6,500 former PKR members, many of whom were Malajad’s supporters.

The party had also accepted the applications of more than 70 former DAP members, most of them supporters of Hiew.

Malajad won the Matunggong state seat under the PKR ticket in last year’s general election, defeating incumbent Datuk Herbert Timbun Lagadan of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).

Hiew won the Luyang state seat by defeating Datuk Agnes Shim of MCA.

PBS deputy president Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili had said his party would object to the direct acceptance of opposition representatives into a Barisan component party because it was essentially party-hopping and unprincipled political behaviour.

He added that the standard rule was that elected representatives who won their seats under the opposition banner could not be accepted without full consensus of the ruling coalition’s supreme council.