PRS divisions claim fraud in annual meet
Malaysiakini.com
Dec 7, 2006
Tony Thien

Four Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) divisions yesterday filed official complaints to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) against the triennial delegates conference (TDC) of the faction led by 'censured' president Dr James Masing in Sibu last weekend.

The four divisions - Padungan, Batu Lintang, Kedup and Satok, all aligned to the faction led party 'acting' president Sng Chee Hua - are among 19 accredited divisions claimed to have been deliberately left out of the TDC.

At a press conference at party headquarters in Green Heights near Kuching International Airport last night, Padungan division chairperson Dr Ong Lark Sai said his division never held any annual meeting to select delegates for the TDC.

“If there were certain individuals claiming to be representing the Padungan division, then that division could have been a manufactured one to operate as a duplicate to the one that I am heading,” he added.

“If Masing has been involved or condoned the act of fabrication or duplicity, he can be said to be a party to an illegal and unconstitutional act,” said Ong ,who is also an elected supreme council member.

Media reports reported the Padungan deputy chairperson Sim Lai Ann was elected to the party’s supreme council at the TDC in Sibu.

“Can he (Sim) legitimately claim to represent or to have been elected by the Padungan division of which I am the legitimate and elected chairperson to attend any TDC when the division never met to select delegates,” asked Ong.

“Was he coaxed to set up a parallel division without lawful authority, merely to add numbers to Masing's TDC in Sibu?” he added.

Phony meeting

Meanwhile Kedup chairperson Mathew American and his deputy Cr Langui Ak John said certain individuals whom they did not name ' hijacked' their division, held an phony annual general meeting and 'selected' delegates from among a group of 60 people, mostly non-members, during Masing's official visit to Kampung Bunga Gega on Nov 5.

“There was no proper annual meeting of the division. I learned that the actual list of divisional office-bearers was manipulated by certain individuals,” Mathew said.

He added that the (Masing faction's ) list contained the names of a new division chairperson and was submitted to the office in Pending operated by the Masing faction and not to the ROS-approved party headquarters in Green Heights.

“The list contains the names of five delegates to represent the Kedup division.”

“This division has 911 members,” Mathew said, adding that the Nov 5 annual general meeting was just a gathering of around 60 people, mostly kampung folks.
Further, he said, the meeting was called by the secretary of the Tebedu division, not his division.

“I am not happy with the situation in this division on account of the activities of certain individuals,” Mathew said, adding that he was calling on the authorities to investigate and take the necessary action to save the division.

Notification not official

In a separate statement, the Batu Bintang division chairperson Athanasiu Audie Chua and five other key office-bearers said they stayed away from the TDC called by the Masing faction because the division refused to accept the notification order signed by PRS publicity chief Wilfred Nissom who claimed to be secretary-general of the party.

The predominantly-Malay division of Satok in Kuching said it too refused the recognise the authority of the Masing faction in calling on it to hold an annual general meeting for the division.

This was because the only lawful authority that could give directive to divisions to hold annual general meetings and select delegates to a TDC was the supreme council with party headquarters registered at Green Heights.

In a statement signed by its deputy chairperson Tuah Idris (in the absence of its chairperson Ben Sng who is away overseas), the Satok division said that in spite of having 815 members it was asked only to send five delegates to the TDC.

Tuah added the division had lodged a complaint through the party secretary-general Sidi Munan to the ROS for investigations to be carried out and appropriate action taken.

Last month, members aligned to Sng failed in their bid to obtain a court injunction to stop the Masing-led TDC.

Masing was also sacked from the party by his opponents led by deputy president Sng for breaching the party constitution in terminating the appointment of six principal office-bearers without giving them any show-cause letter.

He was also found guilty by the party of calling for the Dec 2 meeting when he (Masing) was not authorised to do so as he had earlier been ‘censured’ as party president.

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