Sarawak's PDP, PSB to merge by December, says Tiong

SIBU: The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) will merge by December this year, says Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

The Bintulu MP said he thanked Premier Tan Seri Abang Johari Tun Openg for the opportunity for the two parties to work together.

“We aim to merge by December," said the PDP president.

Speaking at the PDP and PSB unity night on Saturday (Aug 19), Tiong said the merger of the two parties was solely aimed at "serving the people of Sarawak and especially the state government under our Premier who gave us the full support”.

"We (the two parties) are going forward to serve the people with our sincere hearts. We came together today as we believe in our Premier; we will put Sarawak first.

“This is not a 'kongkalikong (talk but no action)' story and I call on members from the two parties to work together for the grassroots throughout the state," he added.

Tiong also called on GPS component parties not to back-stab them.

"Look on the brighter side of what we are doing for the state. Don't back-stab and make baseless accusations. Don't play nasty behind our back. We must be ‘real, real, political friends or political partners’," said Tiong.

PSB president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh told reporters that with the merger of the two parties, it will not have a new name, and will be under PDP.

"PDP is a component party of GPS, therefore the new party has to be PDP otherwise the anti-party hopping law will apply. We just need to amend both parties' constitutions and laws," said Wong, who is Bawang Assan assemblyman.

He added that Tiong would be the president of the new entity following their merger.

Both parties had signed an MOU for collaboration in Kuala Lumpur on July 13.

More than 2,000 people, comprising members from the two parties, attended the dinner.