STARTING OFF THE DINNER: Mawan officiating at the gathering. On his right is Sagan and at second and third right respectively are Dennis and Robert.
MIRI: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) never accused or insinuated that any member of its fellow Barisan Nasional (BN) parties had meddled in its internal affairs.
Its president Tan Sri William Mawan stressed that the current crisis the party was embroiled in was purely an internal affair that only involved its members.
He was responding to rumours filtering through the political grapevine that some senior members of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) had a hand in the ‘SPDP 5’ affair plaguing his party.
The whispers of hidden hands behind the party’s crisis became so loud that PBB senior vice-president Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan was compelled to issue a statement recently that he had nothing to do with SPDP 5 and never meddled in the party’s affairs.
Mawan seemed to be taken aback by the denial and firmly reiterated that SPDP had never implicated anyone outside the party in the SPDP 5 crisis stressing that his party had full confidence in the cooperation and goodwill of other BN parties.
“We always value the friendship and goodwill with other Barisan Nasional component parties.”
He hoped that no BN party or individuals would feel uneasy about the rumours as they were totally groundless.
He stressed that whatever problems SPDP was facing must remain an internal affair and should not involve other BN component parties or any individuals outside the party.
“We have never implicated anybody, we have our rules within the party, and we will settle the matter amicably among our members,” he asserted.
The so-called SPDP 5 are the senior vice president Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie (Tasik Biru assemblyman), vice-presidents Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading Member of Parliament) and Sylvester Entri Muran (Marudi assemblyman) and supreme council members Paulus Palu Gumbang (Batu Danau assemblyman) and Rosey Yunus (Bekenu assemblywoman).
Mawan was speaking to reporters at a dinner organised by Sarawak Kayan Association (PKS), Miri branch at a hotel here Sunday night. More than 600 people from different communal associations here attended the dinner.
Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Jacob Sagan, Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, political secretaries to the Chief Minister Paul Igai and Robert Laing and Miri PKS chairman Philip Ngo were among those present.