When you make a choice, you change the future.
— Deepak Chopra, author
I was happy that Parti Raykat Sarawak (PRS) deputy president Datuk Joseph Salang acted immediately to pull the party together in the wake of the passing of president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing last Sunday.
As deputy president, Salang knows his responsibilities. It pays to have an experienced leader as your Number Two, and Masing must be glad too (up there) that he had chosen and supported Salang to be his deputy.
It’s good that Salang also knows the rules well, saying that based on the party’s constitution, he had no choice but to assume the leadership role played by the party’s president while it was still vacant.
He stressed that he was not assuming the position of party president nor standing in as the acting party president, but merely to shoulder the role and function of the president.
“PRS will hold its party election (to decide on the new president) once the state election has been held as previously decided,” he added.
In party politics, it pays to be cautious and not jump the gun or seen to be overly ambitious.
While Salang is perceived as the chosen one to succeed Masing as PRS president, he cannot assume that there are no other ambitious party colleagues who could also be interested in the job.
As a GPS component, the PRS president wields certain powers and is “entitled” to a senior state cabinet post if he is a state assemblyperson.
Any ambitious politician will aspire to be the party president, no question about that.
The immediate tasks for Salang and his colleagues are one, choose a good candidate to defend Masing’s Baleh seat which is a PRS stronghold held by the late president for eight terms since 1983, and two, project a united front as a party, even without Masing, and with GPS partners as a whole.
The coming state election is crucial for PRS as there are many suitors for its Dayak-based seats among the opposition bloc. We can expect multi-cornered contests in almost all the 82 seats, including the rural ones.
I wish my old friend, Joe Salang, all the best. Perhaps, Joe, you could have a go at a state seat this time. A final fling could turn out to be the sweetest.
It’s also great to know that PBB vice-president Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has expressed his confidence that PRS will be able to find a successor to replace the late Masing.
Karim said, “there are great leaders in PRS, so I am confident that they will know how to identify and select among themselves a new leader”.
I think Karim is able to read the situation in PRS pretty well as he has also been working with his PRS friends for many years, particularly with Masing as his senior cabinet colleague.
To the new leaders and members of PRS, perhaps it pays well to know the history of your party, the really difficult days of its foundation in particular.
In fact, the younger generations of Dayak leaders should ask themselves one important question. And that is — why are the Dayaks in all political parties in Sarawak and even members of Malayan parties which have a presence in Sarawak?
I cannot answer that question for the Dayaks but the answer is obvious.
Just allow me to say this to my many Dayak friends — the days of headhunting of your so-called enemies in the neighbouring longhouse are long over.
If you really long for Dayak unity or even to see a semblance of Dayakism, it’s time to stop your political headhunting.
You know it — political headhunting is the scourge of the modern history of the Dayaks and it has not abated. In fact, it has gotten worse.
PRS was founded after “political headhunting” in PBDS in 2004. It was an ugly episode even after Masing and his team emerged victorious.
And we know why and how PBDS was born in 1983 — political headhunting in SNAP; only this time some Chinese were involved.
Look further today — the Dayaks are still in every new political party that emerges before an election.
I do not have to name the parties. Look at the wannabe politicians and potential candidates going around campaigning these days.
Do I have to say which community they are from?
Finally, here’s an advice to my Dayak brethren. There are some self-serving Chinese politicians trying to get your support just to satiate their lust for power and position.
And I’m cautioning you as a Chinese.
You should know who they are. Nonetheless, there are also the rare honest and sincere ones.
So, be wary. The younger, educated Dayaks should never allow themselves to be made use of like their forefathers.
More importantly, stop your political headhunting.
I believe this would have been James Masing’s message to his Dayak community as well.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
