KUCHING: The ‘war’ between Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) looks far from over, with PRS secretary general Datuk Wilfred Nissom insisting SPDP should take action against Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat.
Nissom said PRS was not trying to meddle in the affairs of SPDP but merely protesting against the actions of Wong, SPDP vice-president, who had openly attacked a Barisan Nasional member of parliament.
He was referring to the blatant campaign by Wong against PRS vice-president Datuk Joseph Salang, who is Julau MP and Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Culture.
“The issue is this: SPDP’s Wong Judat is blatantly campaigning against a BN member of parliament. That is not a private matter. It is a matter between BN components. The other issue is: Is the SPDP leadership going to discipline Wong? Reconciliation is a matter between personalities involved in the dispute,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Nissom was commenting on yesterday’s news report that quoted SPDP president Tan Sri William Mawan as telling PRS to stop telling SPDP how it should manage itself.
Mawan was quoted as saying SPDP has its own disciplinary mechanism to deal with members who have done excessive wrong against the party and BN’s interest and image. As far as Mawan was concerned, Wong’s recent call for BN to drop Salang for the coming general election was merely Wong’s personal view.
“Wong has not gone overboard. So, don’t tell us what to do, I feel that sometimes PRS has gone overboard in scrutinising SPDP.
“Wong is our party member, not yours – so don’t tell us what to do. We know what to do,” he had said.
Commenting further on this, Nissom said it was as if the blame was put on PRS after the Julau affair was twisted and turned to become a story of PRS ‘meddling’ in SPDP affairs.
“As I recall, PRS’ dispute with SPDP came to the open as a result of some SPDP people campaigning to undermine YB Datuk Joseph Salang in Julau. We were protesting about it,” he elaborated.
He explained that such allegation was substantiated after Wong came to a function organised by Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) in Nanga Entabai, Julau last week, and Wong was even photographed shaking hands with SWP prime mover Datuk Sng Chee Hua.
Wong then further fueled the spat after he told a national daily that PRS should replace Salang.
According to Nissom, it seemed that Mawan has failed or refused to discipline Wong despite all the attacks against Salang, and it should be best left to the BN leadership to take disciplinary action.
Meanwhile, a reconciliation meeting was supposed to take place yesterday in Julau to resolve the Wong-Salang spat to be mediated by Mawan.
Salang said he could not go to the meeting due to prior commitments made before Mawan made the suggestion.
The spat between Wong and Salang was said to have started last year after Wong claimed that the RM3 million allocation for a proposed Nanga Entabai – Rantau Limau road project was ‘hijacked’ by Salang to another area.