Nogeh: Mawan, Entri spreading lies about Teras BN membership

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KUCHING: The claims by PartiTenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom and secretary general Datuk Sylvester Entri that their party is a Barisan Nasional (BN ) component party are mischievous and blatant lies.

Anthony Nogeh

Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) deputy president Anthony Nogeh, who said this in a statement released yesterday, lambasted Mawan, Entri and other Teras leaders who had been trying to fool the people that they are part of BN.

He added they were taking advantage of the interim measure taken by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem to allow ministers and other cabinet members who were not in BN to remain in their posts until the next election.

“There is no mention of Teras joining BarisanNasional in that arrangement but Mawan, Entri and other Teras leaders are taking advantage of that arrangement to hoodwink the people into thinking that Teras is part on the state BN.”

Nogeh who is also the Mas Gading Member of Parliament stressed that there was no way Teras could be admitted into the state BN as their admission must be agreed by all BN component parties.

“SPDP, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak United People’s Party(SUPP) have already declared they would never agree to Teras joining BN so Mawan and company should stop this nonsense of insisting they are part of the state BN.”

Nogeh added that Mawan’s tirade against those who told the truth that Teras was not a BN component party during his speech in Niah last weekend was a desperate attempt to hide the real situation from the people.

“He said they were out to confuse the people when in fact he is the one who is confusing the people with his false claims that Teras is a BN component party,” Nogeh said.

Nogeh also poured scorn on Entri’s claim that he and Mawan had reconciled after their bitter clashes when they were both in SPDP, which resulted in Mawan sacking Entri from the party.

“Obviously their so-called reconciliation is just for the sake of their political survival. How can they take back all those nasty things they said about each other just a few years ago?

“Entri had publicly declared he had no confidence in Mawan’s leadership so what makes him suddenly find new confidence in Mawan now?”

On Teras Wanita Chief EdaIgar’s insistence that Teras wanted all their five state assemblyman to be re-nominated to stand in the next state election, Nogeh said they had the right to defend their seats but not under the BN.

“If they are as popular as they claim they should not be afraid to stand without the backing of BN. They won their seats as SPDP members under the BN banner so when they resigned from the party they have to give the BN allocated seats back to the party.”

SPDP had vowed to stand their ground together with PRS and SUPP not to give up any of their BN allocated seats in the next election.

“ Any attempt to force us to give way to Teras in the seats allocation will tear up the BN agreement and cause disunity in the ruling coalition,” Nogeh warned.