KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general Datuk Nelson Balang Rining yesterday assured that the party is now in good health after overcoming a series of upheavals, especially the ones that nearly drove the party into oblivion about two years ago.
Asserting that party is moving forward like any other party in Malaysia, Balang brushed aside an accusation by Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council member Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah that SPDP still had internal problems considering that it did not want to readmit the four state assemblypersons it sacked for committing gross insubordination.
“What problem? Of course we had our problems but we overcame them, especially the major ones. After a series of upheavals in the party, we have solved them one by one, especially the major ones that nearly broke our party in ate 2011 and early 2012.
“Do we look like we are having problem? We are fine. We successfully held our 10th anniversary last November in Sibu where all members expressed their happiness. Next, we are going to hold our AGM this month in Bintulu on Aug 23 and 24 and everything is going well as planned. We have recruited many new members especially the youths and membership drive is still on-going,” said Balang.
“We are moving forward like any normal and healthy party in Malaysia. And we are in the midst of encouraging potential candidates to assert themselves and move around in seven of our eight state seats,” he added, referring to Ba Kelalan, Krian, Meluan, Marudi, Tasik Biru, Bekenu and Batu Danau state seats. Party president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom is expected to be re-nominated by the BN to defend Pakan again.
“Usually it is not our culture to be judgmental on the political programmes of other parties as we do not want to jeopardise our position within the BN. However we will not compromise on membership and seats allocation,” he stressed.
“In regards to our status as worthy BN partner, we have proven to them that by winning all four parliamentary seats of Mas Gading, Baram, Bintulu and Saratok in the last parliamentary polls,” he added.
On Saturday in Sibu, Abdul Karim cautioned the four partyless state assemblypersons – Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie (Tasik Biru), Datuk Sylvester Entrie Muran (Marudi), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) and Paulus Palu Gumbang (Batu Danau) – that resorting to joining state BN component parties other than SPDP at this time would be premature and could cause more problems even though he felt proud that some of their loyal supporters wanted them to join PBB.
“However let’s not rush into things. This is a problem in SPDP which is a component in BN and our task is to resolve the problem internally within SPDP. In the meantime, suffice to let SPDP resolve their internal problems amicably,” Karim was quoted to have said, adding that no one should think that they are indispensable.
SPDP supreme council sacked eight office bearers including five peoples’ elected representatives including former Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe in phases in 2011 and 2012 as a last resort solution to stabilise the party. The leadership crisis protracted for almost two years with glaring patterns of certain individuals starting in 2009 trying to topple the president, the then deputy president and treasurer general.