SPDP crisis reaches boiling point

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KUCHING: The so-called ‘SPDP Five’ have been referred to the Disciplinary Committee for failing to attend the party’s supreme council meeting for the past two years.

Party president Tan Sri William Mawan said this was decided by the Supreme Council during a meeting at party headquarters in Jalan Badruddin here yesterday.

The ‘SPDP Five’ are senior vice-president and Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Peter Nansian, vice-president and Marudi assemblyman Sylvester Entrie Muran, vice-president and Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe and two supreme council members – Bekenu assemblywoman Rosey Yunus and Batu Danau assemblyman Paulus Palu Gumbang.

The unanimous decision was made by 21 out of the 33 supreme council members, Mawan said, adding that the five persons were referred to the party’s disciplinary committee as they had “reached the party’s limit”.

Mawan said the five-member disciplinary committee was headed by Professor Dr Safiq Abdullah. They were not members of the supreme council.

He said the committee had been given two weeks to investigate the matter and to come up with a finding.

“The time has come. I thought it was a joke. But I, as the president have to put the party in order. There is a line nobody should cross. There is a limit to what you can do and cannot do in the party.

“This thing will never end and the party’s existence may be threatened and that discipline has been discarded. An individual or a group’s interest is subservient to party’s interest,” Mawan told a press conference here yesterday.

He also said that the actions of the five persons had caused confusion to the party.

“But let the due process takes its course. There is nothing personal here,” he said.

He, however, warned that the five persons could face expulsion from the party if they were found to have breached the party’s discipline.

But Mawan, who is Minister of Social Development and Urbanisation, was also quick to assert that he would not mind meeting with them to sort things out as he is “the most peaceful president”.

When asked why it took him two years to make such a drastic decision, Mawan said he had been liberal and democratic in his approach and had given the five persons plenty of time to come to their senses.

He added that the five would be informed of the outcome of the meeting.

Mawan also announced that the party had a new set of constitution which had been approved by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) “to bring better discipline and make the party stronger”.

The SPDP Five has started their ‘silent rebellion’ since the party’s last triennial general meeting (TGM) end of 2009.

Their main contention is that Mawan had not kept his promise to ‘keep the status quo’ in the party’s line-up that he announced before the TGM.

Meanwhile, when contacted, the SPDP Five refused to comment on the matter except to say that “they will cross the bridge when they reach it”.