KUCHING: SPDP vice president Wong Judat yesterday asserted that he was still a BN man and very much in SPDP, casting aside aspersions that that he had put himself in a position that had become an affront to the ruling coalition.
The Meluan assemblyman also denied that he was contemplating leaving BN and SPDP.
“How can I quit BN and SPDP? I am a strongman of SPDP. I am a strong BN supporter. I brought the seat of Meluan to SPDP and therefore to BN,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Wong was clarifying a news report that he was ‘supporting’ the newly registered Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) as he was seen shaking hands with SWP prime mover Datuk Sng Chee Hua, who is tipped to contest under SWP ticket against BN possible candidate Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum in Julau in the coming 13th general election.
On this, he explained that the meeting with Sng at the function in Nanga Entabai, Julau on April 28 was by chance and not by design.
He said the function was a BN ‘Leader-Meet-The People’ session organised by Tuai Rumah Budul, and disclosed that he (Wong) had the letter from the longhouse chief to prove that he was invited to grace it.
“It was not an SWP function. It was my function as a BN assemblyman meeting the constituents,” he explained.
“I still keep the letter of invitation for all to see. It (the Nanga Entabai event) was a BN Leader-Meet-The People function. It was a friend’s event. It was therefore not a SWP function. And Datuk Sng just happened to be there,” said Wong, adding that he would explain the situation further on May 6 at Pakan, Julau.
“I will explain everything in Pakan,” he said. Pakan is an SPDP state seat currently held by its president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom who is also a senior state minister.
When told that Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) secretary-general Datuk Wilfred Rata Nissom was unhappy with the latest development in Julau, Wong replied that several quarters had capitalised on the issue.
On his take on Salang, Wong said it was indeed true he had personal problems with the PRS vice-president, whom he (Wong) described as not a winnable candidate for BN in the coming polls. He, however, said he had no problems with PRS as a party.
On April 14, Mawan told the press that the personal vendetta between Wong and Salang was real and it was manifested at a particular function where both men (Salang and Wong) were jostling over a microphone to explain what had happened to the stalled RM3 million Nanga Entabai-Rantau Limau road project.
Wong initially won Meluan as an independent by beating Sarawak National Party (SNAP) candidate, the late Geman Itam, in 2001 state polls. Subsequently he joined SPDP when SNAP was deregistered in November 2002.
Wong was known to be vocal at the grassroots level, making him a popular leader with the locals in Julau.
Sng, on the other hand, is a former Julau MP (1995 to 1999) during the era of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) before Salang, the then PBDS treasurer-general, took over from Sng. Salang is currently a federal deputy minister.