Another row is brewing among the Pakatan Rakyat coalition partners in Sarawak, this time over the composition of the shadow cabinet announced on May 1.

At a press conference in Kuching today, state PKR chief Baru Bian said the line-up was unilaterally announced by Sarawak DAP chairperson Wong Ho Leng without any prior consultation on it.

“We have decided not to accept it,” he said, adding that the line-up did not reflect enough Muslim and non-Muslim bumiputera representation.

“Therefore, it will be expedient to redress this imbalance and to review the matter at the next state Pakatan council meeting,” he said.

NONE Baru's ( left ) statement comes just a day after Wong clarified that the shadow cabinet line-up was announced at a press conference on May 1 after "proper" consultation at a Sarawak Pakatan leadership council meeting in Kuching and in the presence of three PKR representatives.

Wong had made the clarification yesterday after PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that the line-up was not final .

Baru, the assemblyperson for Ba’Kelalan, said he wanted to put the record straight on PKR’s position that no “proper discussion or prior consultation” had been held between the Pakatan partners before last Sunday’s announcement.

“The first time I saw the line-up was about 1.20pm that day, 10 minutes before the press conference scheduled for 1.30pm... it was sent to my Blackberry by Vernon Kedit,” he said, adding that he was then in Tawau, Sabah, attending to some other matters.

He said the PKR representatives at the meeting, national PKR vice-president John Nuek, Ibi Uding and Kedit, had no authority to agree to nor disagree with the line-up.

Wong refused to delay announcement

“They did ask Wong to delay his announcement, but it was turned down,” he said.

NONE Wong ( left ) announced at the press conference that no objections were raised to the line-up, but the PKR representatives made counter-proposals, which were accepted.

Baru said the line-up should have been discussed further among DAP, PKR and PAS, especially so since PAS was not represented at the meeting on the shadow cabinet line-up, on which the DAP also did not hold any prior consultation with PKR or PAS.

He accused the DAP of lacking in the spirit of consultation.

“From our perspective, the line-up does not reflect the proportional representation of the Muslim and non-Muslim bumiputera majority in Sarawak vis-a-vis the portfolios proposed by DAP,” he said.

Baru said a proposal for an elected representative to hold more than one portfolio and the inclusion of non-elected representatives in the shadow cabinet should  be considered to redress the imbalance in representation among coalition partners.

PKR had all along supported the formation of the shadow cabinet as it would lead to a more open and responsible government, with parties on both sides of the political divide encouraged to discharge their duties as people’s representatives with a sense of purpose, commitment and pride.

Consult before naming reps to portfolios

Also, the elected representatives should have been consulted before being named to their portfolios.

“Ali Biju (the Krian assemblyperson) told me that he is uncomfortable holding the portfolio of religious affairs and national unity.

“When I talked to Ho Leng over the phone, I told him that religion is a very sensitive issue, and that PAS commissioner Adam Ahid be brought into the shadow cabinet to take charge of Islamic affairs,” Baru said.

He did not want to dwell on the past, he said, but it was imperative that Pakatan moved forward.

“The bigger picture is that we must keep the spirit of equal partnership and consensus within the coalition as our guiding principle, both at the state and federal levels,” Baru added.