OPEN TO CHANGES: Mawan speaks to reporters before leaving Djoko’s residence on Thursday during Raya open house.
KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president Tan Sri Willian Mawan said his party, as part of the BN government, needs to restructure itself politically in order to be consistent with the call for ‘change’.
He said that lately, there have been calls for change with regards to socio-cultural issues, development in the state and country.
“When I am talking about coming in with a new group of young people, professionals, to consolidate the party, this is serious business. That includes me.
“I see that as part of the whole transformation process, the future is about the young people,” he said when met at the open house of the Indonesian Consul Bapak Djoko Harjanto at his residence here on Thursday.
He was asked to elaborate on his recent statement that the party would field seven new faces in the next state election, and not discounting the possibility of he himself not defending the Pakan seat. SPDP is allocated eight seats under the current BN seat arrangement.
He said they should be aged below 40 to be fair because they were fresh, energetic and excited but needed to blend with practical experience in terms of what people need and the implementation process.
“It’s not an easy matter to satisfy all needs, system implementation requires details, planning, and other processes. There is a lot of accountability to ensure,” he said.
He also said he was looking at balancing up to 40 per cent of women representation in the party, as (with) other government agencies and councils.
“I am looking at something like that, even for potential YB (elected representative), if the women are good. We are also ‘in’ for empowerment of women … we don’t have any discrimination in practice,” he said.