KUCHING, Nov 20 — The position of the Sarawak PKR chief is not the prerogative of party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but is elected by the branches in the state, state PKR information chief Vernon Kedit explained today.
Responding to a statement by Julau MP Larry Sng, Vernon said the autonomy to decide the chairmanship is only granted to the Sarawak and Sabah chapters of the party, unlike other states where the chairmen are appointed by the president.
“It was granted after the Kuching Declaration of 2012 and in 2014, all the 29 branches voted in a secret ballot for the chairman of their choice,” he said.
He said all the 29 branches had elected Works Minister and Ba’Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian as the state PKR chairman.
“Perhaps Larry Sng doesn’t know that Sarawak has autonomy. We don’t blame him for his ignorance. After all, he just joined us. He is not expected to know everything at this stage,” Kedit, who is also PKR Betong branch chief, said.
He said Sng should have checked with the state PKR secretary Nicholas Bawin or the executive secretary before making any statement regarding party procedures.
Kedit said he does not think Sng wants to erode or roll back the state’s hard-won autonomy.
“PKR is not like Barisan Nasional parties or the Sarawak Workers Party nor do we follow their procedures and conventions,” he said, referring to the party where Sng was president before resigning in 2016 and joining PKR this year.
In an interview with online news portal Dayak Daily, Sng was quoted as saying that he would not know if he was going to be the new chairman of Sarawak PKR, replacing Baru.
He had said the chairmen for all the state PKR were the prerogative of the party president.
Sng made the comments in response to speculation that he would replace Baru as the new state PKR chief.
