Thursday, September 10

Is Nyarok going to defend his seat?


Is Peter Nyarok (pic above) defending his deputy president’s post when Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) holds its elections in December this year?

This is the question being asked by many of his supporters and friends in view of his silence over speculations that he has offered to step down in order to make way for the Bintulu MP and treasurer general Tiong King Sing.

Even SPDP president William Mawan is unsure of Nyarok’s position; however he includes Nyarok in his line-up hoping that there will be no contests for the top posts.

Speculations have been rife among the members that Nyarok has negotiated with Tiong over the possibility of Tiong taking over the number two post as he wants to retire from politics.

It is learnt that the majority of the party’s supreme council and members are wary of Tiong’s intention to be the two of the party and thus they have held discussions to carry out “Plan B” whereby they want to challenge Tiong, and if need be Mawan’s leadership should he take Tiong as his running mate.

Of course Mawan is hoping that every thing will remain status quo. But Nyarok’s silence seems to confirm the rumours of his stepping down and this will inevitably open the way for the top posts to be contested.

Dr. Tiki Lafe, vice president of the party has already talked about the new line-up, when he said: “There is likelihood that even the top posts will be challenged including his own vice-president post. We are talking of a Plan B now and a new line-up.”

“What some of the us fear is that if Tiong becomes the number two, it will be a matter of time before he takes over the leadership of the party. If this happens, then there are bound to be troubles in the party,” said another member of the supreme council who requested not to be quoted in view of the sensitivity of the issue.

Several reasons they do not want Tiong to be the number two. Firstly, they see Tiong as the stumbling block for Dayak unity through merger between SPDP and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS). The merger talks have been initiated five years ago and nothing concrete has come out of the proposal. Tiong has been known to be not in favour of the merger.

Secondly, they see Tiong and his company Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd are allegedly involved in the PKFZ scandal. The latest news about the scandal is that KDSB account to the tune of RM140 million has been frozen pending investigations into the case. The SPDP supreme council members fear that if any thing happens to Tiong, they do not want the party to be dragged along.

Another reason, and the most important one, is that they do not want Sarawak National Party’s history to be repeated. SNAP was saddled with crisis after crisis since James Wong took over the leadership of the party beginning in 1981. During his presidency, Dayaks’ interests and voices were suppressed.

He treated the party as his own company and did not tolerate any criticism; anyone who disagreed with him was expelled from the party. Daniel Tajem, the late Joseph Samuel and Patau Rubis were among victims of Wong’s dictatorial rule in the party. And even Tiong was a victim in the 2002 crisis which led to split in SNAP and resulted in the formation of SPDP in November 2002.

Some of the current SPDP’s supreme council members had bitter experiences in SNAP and they do not want the same thing happens to SPDP.

One among them is Nyarok, the retired school teacher, who came into prominence when he played a leading role together with Mawan and seven others in the 2002 SNAP crisis in which they disagreed with the SNAP president’s expulsion of Tiong from the party. Their disagreement led to them leaving the party and forming SPDP.

Upon the formation of SPDP, Tiong was given the post of treasurer general, while Nyarok upon the death of Peter Tinggom one year or so later was elevated to the post of deputy president.

“It is in this light that we oppose Tiong taking over as deputy president of the party and we will oppose him by challenging him,” said a SPDP leader who also refused to be identified.

“Moreover, Tiong has become too powerful in the party and has antagonized many supreme council members,” he said, adding that Tiong has been treating them with little respect.

According to him, Tiong rebuked them during last month’s supreme council meeting. He said: “Abis kami ditelanjai ka iya”. (Literally it means Tiong completely stripped them off).

Although Tiong’s outbursts did not go down well with some members of the council, they refused however to argue with him. Instead they preferred to keep silence, but his outbursts caused some fears and worry among them.

As they want to fight Tiong at all costs, many are worried about the consequences and Mawan must realise that four or five of SPDP’s State assemblymen are known to be leaning towards Parti Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), the backbone of the State government, which was responsible for their candidacies.

As claimed by a leader who is one of the initiators of “Plan B”, most of the elected representatives are in the second list.

“It all depends on Mawan. He must make a choice. Either he supports Tiong or supports Dayak unity. If he is supportive of Tiong, then he will be challenged,” said a senior member of the party.

Meanwhile, Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) which will hold its delegates conference later is watching with great interest what is happening in SPDP especially in respect of Tiong’s possible election as his party’s deputy president.

“If that happens, we know that the proposed merger between the two parties will not take place in the immediate future as we know that Tiong is against the merger,” said Tedewin Ngumbang, a member of PRS supreme council. - The Broken Shield

(Note the article was first published by the Malaysian Mirror and has been rewritten to suit the readers of The Broken Shield).

13 comments:

adbdin said...

Nothing much to talk about other members, but disciplinary action against Tiong should be taken into account as the PKFZ scandals has damage the party itself.

But the problem with our guys in Sarawak is lack of integrity and make themselves like a fool especially dealing with tycoon such as Tiong.

This type of chinese has long been never put any interest on the people and the party. What we knew till today he is making money and more money when become a YB.

Making him as no 2 will see more disaster and mark my word this party will go down to earth together with him.

PKFZ scandals has shown clearly about his character and furthermore all the allegation is involving million of ringgit.

Just do anything as long this guy will never be taking over any higher post for the time being.

He will be only eligible to contest unless he is clear from the PKFZ scandals. Do not vote for the crook as only the crooks will go along with him.

Anonymous said...

Without Tiong's money, they will have to crawl to Taib if they want to survive. That's the problem with Dayak parties, they are always bankrolled by Chinese. What ever happened to the tons of money the Dayak leaders made over the years?

Anonymous said...

All this depends on what the top party leaders are thinking. If they think that they themselves are capable of supporting their party financially ,then they may as well follow prs steps and kick out Tiong. If they feel that they will be stave to death financially , then they have to submit to the will of Tiong.

It's like in a family and if the children are abused by the father and if they can support themselves and their family, then they can gang up and confront him.

But I have a sense that mawan will submit to the might of Tiong. He knows too well that his rice bowl belongs to Tiong and he have seen what prs is like when they kick out sng.

For the dayaks to stand up and have their own party, they must first of all go back to the drawing board and learn about unity.They must come out onto the open and learn what other race are doing and must treat their party with respect , not as their own.

The history of the dayak ,starting from snap till prs or spdp are very unstable and shameful. Everyone knows that if all the dayaks are given a chance ,all will form their own party.Maybe it's their pride that these dayaks wants to show to the rest of their tribes that they are the chosen ones who are more clever than their counterpart.

I fell sorry for the dayaks that they are the race that is always been led by the leash and financially unstable.I pray they can stay united and only with unity will they speak with a louder voice and be heard.

It's time to bite the hands that feed you or otherwise you will forever be hand fed.Grow up, dayaks!

David can fell Goliath.vote PR!

Agom said...

Under the party`s constitution, Datuk Tiong has the right to contest the number 2 post in the party if he wish to. Nobody can stops him. However, the party`s members have to evaluate the integrity of each individual who wish to contest for an important post in the party.

Though Datuk Tiong is still under probe by the authority in PKFZ scandals, we should adhere to the age-old tenet that any indicted person is innocent until proven guilty.

Come on dayaks, try to learn to survive with your own limited resources without depending too much from a `towkey` who can manipulate you in future. The internal leadership tussle that led to a deregistration of some political parties in the past is a good lesson to us.

If Peter Nyarok gives way to Datuk Tiong to contest the number 2 post, the public may speculate that he has been bought, even if he resigns completely from politics.

chapchai said...

I totally agree with adbdin. I don't see how Tiong can stand for the VP post as he is now implicated in the PKFZ scandal. Okay, he is innocent until proven guilty, but the fact that he has been implicated should prevent him from standing. He can do so once he has cleared his name. By the way, why do Dayak parties need rich Foochows in their midst? I tell you, at the risk of sounding racist, that they do more harm than good in the end.

Anonymous said...

To allege Tiong holding the No.2 post in SPDP would act as a stumbling block to the merger talks with PRS is plain simple bull. Pure Nonsensical. Whether you have Tiong as No.1, No.2 or whatever makes no bloody difference whether the merger can succeed or otherwise. Look at UMNO, MCA, SUPP and all the other political parties in Malaysia. There are so much differences within these Parties leadership and the grassroot members written all over. You have Team A, Team B etc. Whoever leads SPDP or PRS, the very nature of politics means the Ibans/Dayaks would never be able to come under one common platform with an acceptable leader. The same goes for Malays and the Chinese. And Indians too. So using Tiong as the pretext is definitely shallow thinking to say the least and makes no rational sense.
malsia1206

Anonymous said...

"...Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Culture, Joseph Salang Gandum defended the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission's (MCMC) investigations into Malaysiakini's airing of the cow-head video protests.


"The MCMC is acting within the parameters of the law," said Joseph. "The issue is hot. I don't think anyone should contribute to make it hotter
..." - Malaysiakini


Being bankrolled is one thing. What is this Joseph Salang doing? Now that Hisham has C4ed himself up, Salang will make him look good with a bad lie?

[~~~]

Anonymous said...

as concerned as any dayak, i believe that tiong should have never been invited as party member. his scandal shows one thing.......how much money has he made in recent years whether legally of illegally?

another thing is that tiong has made use of money to make use of the dayaks for his own interest. Money is a tool for this croon to seize power and the way i see it, he's going to use it again at the TGM.

to this man, end justifies the means.

Anonymous said...

Fact 1. We Ibans are politically irrelevant in this Malaysian Order.


Modern Iban Prototype No 1

Anonymous said...

Demon Monkey Handler wearing black see Monkey at Ulu. Monkey handler give him bananas, clothes and license. Ulu Monkey swinging from trees making noise and very happy.

Question for Ibans: To be a Monkey or not to be a Monkey?

That is the Question.


Modern Iban Prototype No 1

Unknown said...

Poor SPDP members..!!!

I guessed that they didn't learn a lesson from PBDS. SNG (big towkey) + Masing = total destruction...!!!

So be it with SPDP (Tiong + Mawan) = pecah..!!!

Hahahahahahahh....!!!!

Anonymous said...

poor dayak because no' dayak leader bravery to depend their own people, i hope somebody will coming like Jesus Christ to save their own people. haleluya

empeliau said...

Poor Iban people...!!

Their leaders don't love them...the Iban leaders can't even practice the basic human value bcoz they are worshiping not God but the 'towkey'.

Fact 6. Iban leaders see Iban people as monkeys..

Do we still need this kind of leaders?