KUCHING: SPDP secretary general Nelson Balang Rining yesterday said he was disappointed with the five office bearers who had been sacked from the party for allegedly trying to confuse the public.
Referring to Ba Kelalan constituency, the former Ba Kelalan assemblyman said the five were too overzealous with their eagerness to demonise party president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom to the extent that they had forgotten the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate who defended the constituency in the last state election.
“It was not me who contested then but another party member Willie Liau. I retained the seat for BN twice before Willie took over last minute during last April 16 state polls,” he said in jest.
Willie, a lawyer, lost to Baru Bian, state chief of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in Ba Kelalan and for the record Baru had never beaten Balang. Balang was referring to a mistake made by the five party-less elected representatives in their latest press statement aimed at exacting vengeance on Mawan for describing party-less Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri Muran as being illogical in his argument about BN principles.
Balang also corrected the five by stating that it was in fact the supreme council that sacked them while grassroots members adamantly called for them to be stripped off their GLC and ministerial posts.
He clarified that the decision to put up Willie instead of him (Balang) was the collective decision of BN and not solely that of Mawan, who in fact had wanted him (Balang) to defend the seat.
However, Balang said, the party was moving forward and treated the candidacy episode as history, adding that the BN election machinery in Ba Kelalan was still intact despite Willie’s loss.
Meanwhile, insider sources yesterday said SPDP had set March 10 as the deadline for all divisions to nominate members to contest for several posts in the supreme council, youth, women and puteri wings. SPDP Tasik Biru pro-tem committee will also open its new office cum service centre at No.3, First floor, Jalan Tasik Biru, Off Jalan Guan Cheng in Bau this coming Saturday at 4pm. Mawan, who is also state senior minister will officiate at its opening ceremony and hundreds of party loyalists are expected to come over to Bau.