SIBU: The United Sarawak Party (PSB) is expected to be disbanded before the Chinese New Year celebration next year soon after its members, totalling about 800,000, get the “green light” to join the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) en-block.
PSB deputy president Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa said he was informed of the matter by party president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh yesterday and that they will refer to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on the procedure for the dissolution.
He said PSB would call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to dissolve the party, while PDP will also hold an EGM to accept the former PSB members into the party.
“We plan to disband PSB, so we can be under the big umbrella of PDP and be part of GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak),“ he told the media at the PDP Pre-Christmas and New Year 2024 celebrations here yesterday.
In the 12th Sarawak State Election in 2021, PSB contested as an opposition party and won only four of the 82 seats contested.
The seats were Bawang Assan, won by Wong, Engkili (Dr Rayong), Ba Kelalan (Baru Bian) and Latitude Stone (See Chee How).
In August last year, See left PSB and became an independent member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly.
Before that, on July 13, PDP president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing and PSB, represented by Wong, signed a memorandum of understanding to mark the start of their cooperation.
Apart from PDP, GPS, which is a coalition of Sarawak’s local parties, also involves Parti Pesaka Bersatu Bumiputera (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
Dr Rayong said the move to join PDP was unconditional with the desire to play a role in developing and advancing Sarawak to become a high-income state by 2030.
“We set aside political and ideological background. We join together in one party and support the leadership of the Sarawak Premier (Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg) at the state and the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) at the federal level,“ he added. – Bernama
