Parti Rakyat Sarawak sacks deputy president, four others

KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) has sacked its deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu and supreme council member Datuk William Nyallau for going against the party's decision not to re-nominate them as candidates for GE14.

Also expelled were supreme council members Nyempah Sabot, Adriana Chumang and Edward Kurik for disobeying the party's decisions, disrupting party solidarity and attempting to destroy the good name of the party.

PRS president Tan Sri James Masing announced the expulsion after chairing an emergency supreme council meeting at the party headquarters here on Sunday(April 22) night .

Entulu was the Selangau MP while Nyallau was the Lubok Antu MP.

Both were dropped and were not defending their seats as PRS had named new faces; Robert Pasang Alam for Lubok Antu and Rita Insol for Selangau.

Masing said the emergency meeting was called to discuss the actions of the five, particularly Entulu and Nyallau, who claimed that they were the Barisan candidates for their respective seats despite not being re-nominated.

He said the meeting appointed a special task force chaired by himself which unanimously decided to expel the five.

"Entulu, Nyallau and Nyempah had disobeyed the party's decision not to nominate them in Selangau, Lubok Antu and Julau by publicly claiming that they are candidates. Adriana and Edward were in cahoots with Entulu by supporting him as a candidate," said Masing.

He added at a press conference that the evidence against all of the five was overwhelming, and said that letters would be sent to all five informing them of their expulsion.

He also said it was the PRS' right to nominate candidates for the seats allocated to it and members must abide by the party's decision.

"As far as Entulu and Nyallau are concerned, they are no longer members of the party. They can go campaigning as independents if they wish but they cannot be Barisan candidates," said Masing.

He said that the expulsion of the five had to be done so the party can move forward.

"We felt that they had done enough to disrupt the party so we want to put an end to it and focus on the election," he added.

Besides the two new faces, PRS will retain four incumbents for GE14; Datuk Masir Kujat in Sri Aman, Datuk Joseph Salang in Julau, Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang in Kanowit and Datuk Wilson Ugak in Hulu Rajang.