SPDP Youth not denying interest in Kidurong seat

KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democractic Party (SPDP) Youth Wing yesterday did not deny it was still interested in the Kidurong seat.

However, it would not do anything that would make the State Barisan Nasional component parties wrongly perceive that SPDP is staking its claim on the seat.

Its new chief Robert Ayu said SPDP Youth Wing certainly would not turn down an offer to take up the Kidurong seat in the coming state election.

“We want to make our stand clear on this matter. We are not staking our claim on the seat. It is just a proposal by our membes and we leave it to the State Barisan Nasional to decide on the seat,” he said.

Ayu was speaking to the media after chairing the Youth Exco’s meeting at the party’s headquarters at Jalan Badruddin here.

It was the first meeting since last December’s triennial general assembly (TGA) here in Kuching.

Also present during the press conference were the newly appointed Youth Exco secretary general Tony Chen and other Youth Exco members.

He said the Youth Exco wanted to clarify on this matter as during the recent TGM, a copy of a motion by the party’s Kidurong Youth on the seat got into the hands of the press.

Some parties might wrongly interpret the motion, after all the Kidurong seat now belongs to Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), he noted.

He stressed that the Youth Exco decided it was best to leave the matter to the State Barisan Nasional top leadership because they believed in the principle of consultation and consensus practised by all the State BN component parties.

“If after consultation and consensus, the state BN decides to give it to SPDP, we will accept it,” he said.

In the last state election, BN candidate from SUPP, Paul Yong Khing Kee, failed to wrest the Kidurong seat from the incumbent Chew Chiu Sing from the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

He lost by a majority of 1,664 votes when he only managed to garner 6,853 votes compared with Chew’s 8,517 votes.

Touching on the controversy surrounding the appointment of the party’s secretary general, Ayu said the Youth Exco regarded it as a family matter and he believed the party would solve it internally.

“We are not siding with any body in this issue …we (the Youth Exco) believe that we (the party) will able to settle the matter internally …and we have full confidence in the party president (Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom) to solve the matter,” he said.

The appointment of Ba Kelalan assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining  as the new secretary general to replace Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Water Supplies) Sylvester Entri Muran  has sparked dissatisfaction among some party members.

The appointment was announced by party president Dato Sri William Mawan after the meeting of the supreme council here  on Jan 23.

A day after the announcement, Entri said in a press conference that he declined to accept the vice president post and claimed Mawan had reneged on his earlier promise of maintaining the equilibrium of power in SPDP.

Some party members had also made known their displeasure to the press urging Mawan to reinstate Entri, who was appointed as a vice president, to the post.

In defending the decision by the supreme council, four party leaders -  deputy president Datuk Peter Nyaruk Entrie, senior vice president Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagam, vice president I Jelaing Mersat and Nelson himself – signed a joint press statement stating the dropping of Entri was due to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

The statement also mentioned that Nelson needed to be given a party post with a lot of clout because there was a great possibility that he would be facing Sarawak PKR’s most powerful man – its state chief Baru Bian – in the next election.

Two days later, Mawan disclosed that the secretary general issue might soon be resolved with ‘reconciliatory moves” that would include a forum.

The Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who was met after the meeting, told reporters: “The issue must be resolved internally quickly.”