Dato Ranum Mina
KUCHING: Opar assemblyman Dato Ranum Mina has turned down the invitation to cross over to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) as it is not the ‘right path’, stressing that he will swim or sink with Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
Ranum, who is currently PSB senior vice president, said he felt both ‘tickled and flattered’ to be invited by his friend and ex-Barisan Nasional (BN) comrade Datuk Amar Michael Manyin to leave PSB and return to GPS.
He said he felt ‘honoured’ because Manyin being a senior vice president of PBB had extended the invitation to him which could mean that PBB must have recognised his strength and appreciated his service in Opar much more than his ex-comrades in Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).
He also said at the same time, he felt ‘slighted’ that SUPP led by its president Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian did not think of inviting him back despite him having secured Opar for them for close to two decades.
In a serious tone, he said very few lawmakers in SUPP can match his service record and that of Dato Sri Richard Riot Jaem who has been Serian MP for 30 years.
“I would like to sincerely say thank you to my friend Manyin for keeping me in his thoughts but I will swim or sink with PSB.
“PSB, despite its short history and limited resources, has shown that it cares for the most vulnerable communities in Sarawak and has listed native customary rights (NCR) land issues among its top priorities.
“On the same breath, I would like to invite Manyin to leave GPS now and join us in PSB. GPS’ presence and role in Perikatan Nasional and their consequential association with extremist elements from PAS and Umno is not the ideal development that the majority of Sarawakians want to see and Manyin should not be a part of it,” he said in a statement yesterday.
It was issued in response to a news report on Sunday in which Manyin was quoted as saying GPS was still opening its door to Ranum to rejoin the coalition.
Manyin had said Ranum was once among the eight Bidayuh assemblymen in GPS who met and discussed preparations in all the eight Bidayuh-majority areas for the next state election, and he had also hoped Ranum would reconsider at the last moment.
PSB is now in the opposition after it chose not to be GPS-friendly anymore last year, when its president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh quit from all state cabinet posts. It had also announced it would contest in at least 70 seats in the next state election.
Ranum, in the same statement, also said he had made a clear choice to leave SUPP/GPS and join PSB, then called United People’s Party (UPP).
“Truth be told, I am glad I left GPS. With the benefit of hindsight, that decision made six years ago was the correct decision.”
On his Opar constituency, he said the voters consist mainly of the Bidayuh dialectical groups Jagoi Bratak and Salako Rara.
He said the Salako Rara group from which he comes is among the smallest ethnic groups in Sarawak, numbering slightly more than 12,000 only and the vast majority reside in the Lundu/Sematan area.
“Despite the small size of the community and despite my best efforts as the assemblyman for N1 Opar, the Salako Rara community is still lagging behind the other communities in the First Division of Sarawak including the community of our brethren, the Jagoi Bratak Bidayuh, in the other half of N1 Opar.
“That is a testimony to leaders in SUPP and the top Bidayuh leaders in GPS. In SUPP/GPS politics, we were there just to make up the numbers. We were too small a group to be a force to be reckoned with,” he said.
He added that at a conference held at Kampung Tebaro in Lundu on Sept 17 in 2018, the Selako Rara community listed higher education opportunities and NCR land issues as some of the most urgent issues affecting the community.
“While these are issues that had also impeded the Dayaks throughout Sarawak for over half a century, these issues among the Salako Raras stand out as anomaly as Lundu/Sematan is so near to the state capital,” he said.
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