‘SPDP Five’ said to be starting merger ball rolling

KUCHING: A Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) supreme council member said the “SPDP Five” are starting the “ball rolling” for the proposed merger with Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).The group, according to George Garai, was moving because they felt that SPDP merger committee headed by Datuk Peter Nyarok had not initiated any efforts to merge with PRS.

He said media reports about the merger were only for “public consumption and public show” but in reality no headway had been made.

George — one of three SPDP supreme council members who joined the five — yesterday pointed out that the merger committee had never made any efforts to explain the merger to the grassroots members although there have been talks of the merger since 2004.

“Therefore the group is making the move (to talk to PRS) to speed up the merger process,” George said.

He said this in response to Nyarok’s statement yesterday. Among other things, Nyarok said the five led by Datuk Peter Nansian were acting on their own.

Nyarok, who is also Krian assemblyman, was also quoted as having said that the group needed to be reminded that SPDP had already appointed a committee headed by himself to work with a committee from PRS on the merger.

George claimed that Nyarok’s committee had not worked on the merger due to fears that the merger would cause some in SPDP to lose their positions.

“When we talk about the merger, there has never been any roadmap for it.

“The merger was not even discussed in the last party triennial delegates’ conference (TDC),” he said.

George claimed that the group was all for a merger with PRS without any condition.

“The talk for the merger is above all else. We are looking at the bigger picture in the interest of Barisan Nasional (BN) and not about our personal interests,” he stressed.

George went on to say that the group’s move was to carry out the decision of SPDP.

He also disagreed with SPDP Sarikei branch chairman, Kapitan Tang Nguong Sit, who said that the group was making a “miscalculated move”.

“It is the other group (Nyarok group) that has made a miscalculated move, not us. The other group always ask: what do I get from the merger? For us, what we get, we will discuss.”

The current political upheaval in SPDP started after the Jan 23 supreme council meeting when the president Dato Sri William Mawan decided to ‘promote’ Entri to a vice-president’s post, which not everyone was happy about.

Entri later walked out of the meeting and with him were Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading MP), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu assemblyman), Paulus Palu Gumbang (Batu Danau assemblyman).

Nansian also left the party, but said it was only after he informed Mawan.

Yesterday, the group were at PRS headquarters at Jalan Pending meeting with PRS president Dato Sri James Masing.