Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword – Traitor Zuraida In Trouble After Failing To Steal Fellow Larry Sng’s PBM Party

Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword – Traitor Zuraida In Trouble After Failing To Steal Fellow Larry Sng’s PBM Party



Karma – that’s the short answer to describe the internal crisis plaguing Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM or Malaysian Nation Party). The long answer – you live by the sword, you die by the sword. There’s no honour among thieves, let alone traitors who are trying to butcher each other trying to take over the pirate ship as the 15th General Election approaches.



The party now has two captains – Larry Sng Wei Shien and Zuraida Kamaruddin – both trying to claim ownership. The party currently has six elected Members of Parliament (MP), all are traitors who had jumped ship. Except Mohamaddin Ketapi (Warisan), others – Larry, Zuraida, Xavier Jayakumar, Edmund Santhara, Steven Choong Shiau Yoon – were formerly from PKR (People’s Justice Party).



The party was originally founded in 2012 as the Sarawak Workers Party (SWP or Parti Pekerja Sarawak) before being rebranded and renamed as PBM in November 2021. The SWP itself was a splinter party of Sarawak Peoples’ Party (PRS), which was formed by some former PRS members headed by dissident leader Sng Chee Hua – Larry’s father.



But the SWP itself was rebranded from the Sabah People’s Front (SPF), a Barisan Nasional-friendly party. Larry Sng was actually born in Taiwan. His father – Sng Chee Hua – was Sarawakian tycoon-turn-politician who married Taiwanese-born wife Susan Sng and was formerly one-term Julau MP (1995 – 1999) and two-term Pelagus assemblyman (1991 – 2001).



First joined the Sarawak Native People’s Party (PBDS) in 2001 at the age of 21, Larry effectively replaced his father as the Pelagus representative from 2001 to 2011. He was the Sarawak’s youngest assistant minister under the corrupt Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud administration in 2004. After PBDS was de-registered, he joined the new Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) in 2004.



PRS was founded by his father and James Jemut Masing. Larry retained his Pelagus seat as a PRS candidate in the 2006 state election, but was sacked for insubordination in 2007 during the party leadership crisis. He was dropped as a Barisan candidate in the 2011 state election. When his father retired in 2013, Larry took over the presidency of the SWP. He lost as an SWP candidate in Lubok Antu in the 2013 General Election.



After his application to join Sarawak Barisan Nasional coalition was rejected, Larry Sng gave up and resigned from the SWP in April 2016. His family was very influential. Larry’s grandfather – Sng Chin Joo – was a Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly) member in 1963 and the Kapitan Cina in Kapit in the mid-80s, commanding huge respect among Iban communities in Sarawak.



That explains how Larry could win even as an “Independent” candidate in the Julau constituency in the 2018 General Election – grabbing 10,105 of the 18,279 votes cast. After the stunning defeat of Barisan Nasional for the first time in history in 2018, he subsequently joined PKR, the biggest component party of the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) ruling coalition.



Following the collapse of PH in Feb 2020 after Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali betrayed their allies, the position of PKR Sarawak chief was left vacant after incumbent Baru Bian left to become independent. Larry Sng took over the leadership. However, in February 2021, together with Steven Choong, both switched sides and pledged support for PM Muhyiddin.



Larry Sng, who married May Ting, the eldest daughter of Sarawak business magnate who was awarded the Bakun Dam project during Mahathir administration – Ting Pek Khiing – subsequently went back to Sarawak Workers Party (SWP). He announced the new Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) on Nov 19, 2021 after approval of the restructuring by the RoS (Registrar of Societies).



In January 2022, the junior Sng became the first president of PBM. The party, which had already declared its support for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) during the 2021 Sarawak state election, did not discount the possibility of joining Barisan Nasional in anticipation of a landslide victory in the upcoming 15th General Election. But little did Larry realize that a power struggle was about to explode.



In May 2022, Zuraida, one of 11 PKR MPs who had defected and betrayed her own party to join Muhyiddin’s Bersatu, leading to the collapse of democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government, quit Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or Malaysian United Indigenous Party) to join PBM. In June, Sng announced Zuraida as PBM president-designate.



On October 8, 2022, PBM announced the appointment of Zuraida as the new party president after a supreme council meeting held on October 7. The party claimed that the appointment was made after the Supreme Council’s motion of Zuraida taking over the president’s post was passed at the party’s 2022 AGM (annual general meeting) on October 1.



Interestingly, Larry Sng had initially insisted on Oct 2 that he was still the president. He argued that the president’s post would only be vacant if the president resigned, removed or left the party. But he had neither resigned nor quit the party. Later (Oct 8), he said that he accepted the party’s decision to appoint Zuraida Kamaruddin as his successor.




However, on October 26, Sng announced that he is still the legitimate party president based on the Registrar of Societies (RoS) records, and he will sign all the letters of candidacy (“surat watikah”) for all PBM candidates to contest in the national polls. The next day (Oct 27), Larry suspended party secretary-general Nor Hizwan and information chief Zakaria – effective immediately.



To prove that he is still the chief, Larry Sng shared a photo of a certified true copy of a Registrar of Societies (RoS) document dated Oct 27 which named him as the president of PBM. The defiant Nor Hizwan, however, dismissed the suspension, claiming that only Zuraida, the dubious party president, can suspend him and Zakaria (a close ally of Zuraida).



The internal power struggle got worse on Oct 28 when Sng moved to suspend Zuraida’s membership along with 12 other Supreme Council members. The hilarious mass suspension was invoked based on PBM’s Constitution Clause 60 (iii), which was taken in relation to the individuals’ ongoing involvement in undermining the interest of the party and its leadership.



Flexing his muscle, Larry said – “I strongly despise and condemn such political manoeuvring, which has undermined the trust in my leadership, and caused much confusion to party members and the general public at large. As such, their positions will be suspended until a disciplinary committee is set up to look into the matter after the election”.



Reiterating again that he is still PBM president, Sng said on Oct 29 that a Supreme Council meeting will be held in Sarikei, Sarawak on Oct 30, but all suspended members will not be allowed to attend. On Sunday (Oct 30), RoS director-general Nawardi Saad confirmed that Larry Sng was still PBM president. Zuraida – incredibly panicked – still insisted that she is the rightful party president.



Exactly how did the leadership crisis happen? Apparently, everything started because power-hungry Zuraida, in her haste to grab power, has backstabbed and betrayed Sng. Along with the 12 Supreme Council members, she had tried to go behind Sng’s back when plans were hatched to seize power during the party’s 2022 AGM (annual general meeting) on October 1.



Not ready to give up his power, Sng said he has only indicated that Zuraida would only succeed him at a “suitable time” in the near future. The bad blood actually started in August this year when Zuraida, in her desperation to join Barisan Nasional, unilaterally announced that PBM will not contest in Sarawak in the 15th General Election. It was a slap in the face of Larry Sng.



Zuraida has disrespected – even insulted – Sng because it would mean that the MP for Julau, which is in Sarikei, will not be able to contest in Sarawak, his power base. The shameless Zuraida wanted to contest 14 seats in the national election (7 parliamentary seats and 7 state assembly seats). The PKR traitor thought PBM’s application to join Barisan Nasional would be approved.



To get rid of Larry, her minions issued a notice of the Supreme Council meeting (October 5) without the president’s approval. Worse, not only the Supreme Council meeting did not meet the required quorum, it was chaired by deputy president Haniza Mohamed Talha and attended by party members who are not recognized as council members by the Registrar of Societies.



The biggest problem is that Larry Sng was not properly removed before the appointment of Zuraida Kamarudin as the new president, leading to two presidents in the party. There is no provision in the party constitution that allows for the removal of the president (Larry) or any elected supreme council members unless it was done so at the AGM, which did not take place.



The best part is that the secretary-general has been illegally appointed to represent the party in signing the watikah (appointment letters) for candidates to contest in the general election. So, not only it usurps the power of the president, the signature of secretary-general Nor Hizwan would be both invalid and illegal. This also means the legitimacy of the candidates can be challenged.



At best, not only the appointment of Zuraida as PBM president is invalid, candidates who contest and win in the election could see their parliamentary seats declared null and void due to the illegitimacy of the watikah (appointment letters). At worst, the Registrar of Societies could declare the party an unlawful society and therefore illegal and must be disbanded.



If the crisis is not solved before November 5, which is on nomination day, Zuraida and her gang of traitors would be in deep shit. How can they still contest under PBM after being suspended, or illegally contest without a legitimate “watikah”? To add salt to injury, Barisan Nasional has refused to accept PBM. Not only PBM cannot add value, all its leaders were former traitors whom voters are waiting anxiously to slaughter.



It’s absolutely disgrace that Zuraida shamelessly tries to steal her comrade’s party, who inherited it from his father. Why can’t she just set up her own party like Mahathir Mohamad, who founded Bersatu (PPBM) and thereafter Pejuang (after Bersatu was stolen by Muhyiddin)? After jumping from PKR to Bersatu, and from Bersatu to PBM, it appears Zuraida is now homeless.