KUCHING: Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) yesterday defended its membership numbers in Lubok Antu, stressing that it was not forged.
Its Engkilili division deputy chairman Semijie Janting said the opponents of SWP are always welcomed to check the list of members if they have doubt.
“Our Engkilili office and also our headquarters in Kuching have been receiving a steady flow of new applications from Lubok Antu everyday, making up the total number so far to about 8,000.
“I feel our opponents should not be too worried about the quantity we have, but rather the quality of work they have delivered. The reason behind the sudden surge in membership especially in Lubok Antu is because the incumbent has not been doing his job expected of him,” he said.
Semijie also said to accuse the party of making up the number of members in Lubok Antu is a serious accusation.
“Like any other political parties, we also face duplication of membership, meaning applicants having multiple membership applying to us, but we are trying our best to vet these applicants.
For that, I, on behalf of SWP, would like to thank the two SUPP councillors for informing us about cases of duplication of membership,” he said.
Yesterday, two SUPP councillors in Engkili were quoted in the newspapers saying the SWP’s claim of 8,000 members in Lubok Antu was ‘merely a fabrication’.
They said they had conducted a probe and found out that many of those so-called SWP members in Lubok Antu did not even know they were registered as party members.
One of the councillors, Cr Nyambong Merawing from SUPP said this was because the SWP Engkilili division had allegedly filled up the forms using the particulars from the names listed as Lubok Antu voters in the electoral roll.
SWP president Larry Sng, who is fluent in Iban, has been strongly tipped to stand in Lubok Antu following his frequent visits there of late. The move has been ticked off by certain quarters, with several politicians saying that an Iban-majority seat cannot be represented by a non-Iban.