KUCHING: President of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) James Masing is not only bitter, but felt very hurt by the loss of the Pelagus seat to independent candidate George Lagong.

Lagong defeated PRS candidate Stanley Nyitar by a very comfortable margin of 2,837 votes when he secured 5,740 votes as against 2,903 by Stanley.

The PKR candidate, Edward Sumbang Asun, managed to secure 1,171 votes.

The constituency has 15,323 voters comprising 11,979 Ibans, 2,359 Chinese and 901 Malay/Melanau and the rest others.

PRS contested in nine seats and won eight, making it the second biggest party after PBB which has 35 seats in the new state assembly.

Asked to comment on the defeat of Pelagus seat, Masing said: “Now it dawns on me this cruel fact of life.

“The pride of poor communities is as deep as their pockets. This is most evident in politics,” he said, referring to a large sum of money that had helped influence the voting pattern in the rural areas.

However, he refused to say whether his party was sabotaged or not.

“I am not aware of it yet. In Ngemah, I had the full support of all BN parties.

“In Pelagus we lacked the necessary resources during the fight. Otherwise we would have a clean sweep,” he said, pointing out that Larry Sng and his influential father Sng Chee Hua were of no help to BN in Pelagus.

The role of the Sngs

Larry Sng, the former incumbent, was sacked from the party and had remained partyless and was dropped from contesting in this state polls.

He had insisted of contesting as a BN man, but was strongly objected by PRS.

Masing must also remember that George Lagong has blood relations with the Sngs.

Meanwhile speculation is rife that Masing may be appointed as a deputy chief minister in the Taib cabinet following the defeat of SUPP president George Chan at Piasau.

SUPP which had 12 seats before going to the polls, now only has six seats – two Chinese and four Dayaks.

“It appears that the Chinese party is being represented by the Dayaks and they should ask more from SUPP in terms of position, and so on,” said a former leader.