Paul Igai chides Entri for demonising SPDP president

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KUCHING: SPDP deputy secretary-general Paul Igai yesterday chided one of the five partly-less elected representatives who were sacked from the party for demonising party president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom.

Igai, a political secretary to the chief minister, also said Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylevester Entri Muran continued to be illogical in his arguments by stating that SPDP had no locus standi to talk about politics in constituencies already allocated to SPDP.

“How can he (Entri) say we (SPDP) have no locus standi? How can he say the president (Mawan) is splitting the people? Then he (Entri) should brief people what Barisan Nasional (BN) principle is all about,” he argued.

He said Entri’s insinuation that negative politicking would boomerang to SPDP was in itself negative politicking.

“By using the term ‘boomerang’ in his statement, Entri is already deploying negative politics,” he explained.

To Igai, Mawan has the right to move around because he is not only a party president but also a state minister besides being a BN representative.

“Moreover, Mawan never stopped Entri from serving the people until the election if he keeps his activities to such. The party is only against negative politicking and we believe he knows what the term means,” he said.

He told Entri and the other four sacked elected office bearers to get their facts right on who were the ones that terminated their membership, and said they were ‘piggy riding’ on BN’s back.

“The five were in fact terminated by the party which acted according to the constitution. Statements stating them piggy riding on the back of BN came from numerous divisions of the party. Asking them to be stripped off their GLC and ministerial posts also came from the divisions and grassroots members,” he said.

Paul asked: “Even now, is he (Entri) trying to throw spanner in the works by making statements on the eve of the party’s Triennial General Assembly (TGA)?”

He added: “SPDP is and has always been a harmonious party with a multi-racial setup and high level of understanding for one another.”

With regards to Mawan’s visits to Marudi or Baram, Iga said it was to harness ground support for MP Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan and that the party was doing its service to the BN as well.

“Visits to Mas Gading were also on the requests of BN members on the ground. This weekend the party will be in Bau to meet members and supporters who are very tolerant and very understanding,” he said.

“To say that the party has been splitting the people is total rubbish and to implicate the party of serving people for self interest is definitely not true,” he added.

Igai pointed out that Entri persuaded the others not to attend party supreme council meetings and was disrespectful not only to the president but also the party, which prompted the party to boot out the five for gross insubordination and undermining party stability.