Banyi: Teras to rise from ashes with rebranding initiative

SIBU (Aug 18): Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) will be rebranded in a bid to strengthen and ‘cleanse’ the party, said its president Banyi Beriak.

He pointed out that the rebranding exercise was necessitated by the fact that Teras has been ‘dormant’ for quite some time after the 2016’s state election, with leaders leaving the party.

“Luckily, we are still able to stay afloat. That is why we are rebranding – meaning, we want to recruit more (new members) because maybe, some of the old members might have joined other (political) parties, which we don’t know.

“We cannot just rely on the old members – maybe, they have gone somewhere else. We will mould Teras into a formidable and stronger party,” Banyi told reporters after the ‘Malam Wawasan’ Teras dinner at a leading hotel here last night.

He informed that rebranding also involves revamping the whole Central Executive Council (CEC) with new and more committed members.

“At the moment, we try to amend the (party’s) constitution to pave way for new blood to come in.

“And, at the moment, the CEC is too large so, we try to make it more compact and taking in new members – that is what we call rebranding.”

Adding on, he said, while the old record showed Teras has over 50,000 members across Sarawak, it might not reflect the actual number.

“(So, we want to) Make a new record – new recruitment akin to ‘sweeping’ the whole thing.”

He explained that existing members too will have to reapply into the party, as part of its rebranding efforts.

“We have to re-register (them) as members of the party… we’ve to open up new record and data base. So now, we will rebrand (Teras), and see who are still with us.

“We cannot rely on the old record because we do not who are staying, and who have jumped to the other parties….so, reapply and what’s we call by rebranding.

“Rebranding is to strengthen and cleanse the party.”

Asked about the number of new members that Teras is targeting, he revealed that the party is looking at several thousand in each electoral division in Sarawak.

Newly-recruited Teras member Affendi Jeman, who is formerly the Sarawak Umno sponsor chairman, was among about 1,000 members and supporters from across Sarawak attending the dinner, dressed in blue with the wording ‘Friends of BN’.