PARTI Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) is in no hurry to welcome back into its fold Jugah Muyang, who is still viewed with suspicion by a large section of the party.

PRS youth chief Snowdon Lawan said many in the party are suspicious of the Lubok Antu MP’s motives.

“They are asking, where’s his loyalty?” Personally to me, that’s important. You must show loyalty,” said Snowdon

“That’s the golden rule in politics if you have any integrity. No matter how good you are or how smart you are, if you do not have loyalty to the party then it’s going to be difficult.

“So the matter is being kept in view. Moreover, Jugah had his chance and he turned us down. We did invite him back (but) there was no response from him. So we assumed he was not interested and we left it at that,” said Snowdon of the party’s offer to the lawmaker in June 2020.

Jugah had dumped the party and contested the Lubok Antu seat as an Independent in the last general election. 

He pulled off a surprise win in the predominantly Iban seat of 20,801 voters, picking up 5, 834 votes to see off PRS’ Robert Alam Pasang (4,775) and PKR’s Nicholas Bawin Anggat (3,942).

He then joined PKR, only to leave the Anwar Ibrahim-led party in 2020 when PH fell from power.

The party-less lawmaker has since pledged support for the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal and Gabungan Parti Sarawak state coalitions.

Snowdon said Jugah formally submitted his application to return in February.

It was a “direct application” meaning the application was sent to PRS headquarters instead of going through the usual route via the branch.

However, in March, the party’s supreme council decided that Jugah’s application should go through the normal process and he should either submit it to the Batang Ai or Engkilili branches – the two branches that made up the Batang Ai parliamentary constituency.

Snowdon said since “there were issues” surrounding the application, the party leadership had decided that he should submit his application to the branch for a recommendation.

On what the issues were, all Lawan would say was that there were “some (negative) sentiments in Lubok Antu”.

A party insider, who did not want to be named, said: “The branch could either recommend that the application be rejected outright or have conditions attached to the admission,” the source said alluding to admitting Jugah but not giving him the guarantee that he would be automatically picked to defend his seat in the coming general election.

In March, the Engkilili branch passed a resolution rejecting Jugah’s application and for the branch chairman Roy Gingkoi to be considered as the party’s candidate for the Lubok Antu seat.

Lawan said there are many potential candidates for the Lubok Antu seat.

“He’s (Jugah) not the only one.” – July 4, 2022.