SELANGAU MP of three terms, Joseph Entulu Belaun may have to sit out the next general election after failing to obtain the necessary endorsement of the assemblymen in his constituency, said Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing.

Masing said the Kakus assemblyman John Sike Tayai and Tamin assemblyman, Christopher Gira Sambang, had withheld their endorsement of Entulu, a minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, to defend his seat. 

All three are PRS members; Entulu is the deputy president.

Sikie, who is also a minister in the Chief Minister’s Department and Gira, a first-term assemblyman, had endorsed someone else, said Masing, who is a deputy chief minister.

Althoug recently introduced by PRS, the pre-requisite is an important one. MPs must be endorsed by the assemblymen to contest in the election, Masing said.

He said that when the assemblymen of a particular constituency endorsed the candidate or incumbent, then he would “have no choice but to endorse him as well”.

“This is because the endorsement comes from people who have the support of the majority in that area.

“I cannot endorse the individual as a party candidate without the support of the assemblymen of the (respective) areas.”

He said if the assemblymen did not wish to support the incumbent’s candidacy, they would be asked to name an alternative candidate who was “deemed to have grassroots support”.

The question mark over Entulu’s political future is bound to fuel rumours of a rift between Masing and his deputy.

Entulu first contested the Selangau seat in 2004 as a Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak candidate.

He joined PRS after PBDS was deregistered in 2004 and won the seat unopposed in the general election in that year.

In the 2013 election, he easily routed his opponent of PKR, Joshua Jabeng, winning 70% of the votes.

Another PRS representative who could fail to be renominated to defend his seat in the polls is two-term Lubok Antu MP William Nyalau Badak.

The PRS assemblyman in Nyalau’s seat, Assistant Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development Malcolm Mussem Lamoh, has opted for Nyalau to be replaced.

The other state seat in Lubok Antu, Engkilili, is held by Johnichal Rayong Ngipa of the pro-BN United People’s Party (UPP).

Rayong is reported to be meeting the longhouse chiefs in the constituency to convince them to support Nyalau’s renomination, a campaign PRS has claimed is tantamount to Rayong interfering in the internal affairs of another party.

PRS won all the six seats they were allocated in the 2013 election. They are Sri Aman (Deputy Home Minister Masir Kujat); Julau (Joseph Salang Gandum), Kanowit (Aaron Ago Dagang), Hulu Rajang (Wilson Ugak Kumbong), Selangau and Lubok Antu. – October 2, 2017.