Baru Bian joins the Sarawak timber tycoons

(The New Sarawak) – BA’KELALAN assemblyman Baru Bian will lose majority of his supporters in the next state election due to his decision to join Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).

PBB vice-president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the former PKR leader was contradicting himself by joining a party that was supported by timber companies that he had once fought against.

“It’s an open secret are those behind PSB… A lot of them are big tycoons who have been getting benefits out of the jungle.”

“These are the people who are plundering jungles and native customary areas where Baru Bian has been advocating,” he said, Borneo Post said.

“He used to fight them, now he joins them. Where have his principles gone?”

He said PSB is a splinter of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and its members included those who were ‘kicked out’ by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).

Karim described PSB members as “birds of a feather, flocking together”.

Baru, who is also Selangau MP and a former federal minister, had quit PKR in February this year following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government. He joined PSB in May.

In the 2016 state election, Baru won with a majority of 538 votes in a straight fight against Willie Liau, who contested on the Barisan Nasional ticket. Baru had polled 2,858 votes.