WHAT IS SNAP’S FUTURE LIKE?

By Joseph Tawie

(This story was first published by The Malaysian Mirror and is updated and published for the readers of The Broken Shield)

KUCHING - After eight years in the political doldrums, Sarawak National Party has been given a new lease of life after the Court of Appeal on 23 June 2010 set aside the decision of the Registrar of Societies to deregister the party.

But what is SNAP’s future like? Will the Dayaks return to the party? Is SNAP that was the pride of the Dayaks in the 1970s when it had 18 State assemblymen and nine MPs, able to recapture its past glory? Or will it be able to capitalize on the sentiments of the Dayaks against the Barisan Nasional government and the authorities? And what are SNAP’s directions?

These are some of the questions that many Dayaks and non-Dayaks are asking and demanding to know.

Many believe SNAP can attain its past glory, but to do that it must be led by someone who has the charismatic personality – the bold and the fearless.

“Change of leadership must be made, if it is going to play a major role in both State and national politics. During these eight years, SNAP was left with a skeleton of members as many had left due to the uncertainty of its fate with the ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over its head,” said a former SNAP leader.

Its performances in those years in two parliamentary elections and one state election against the Barisan Nasional were not only dismal, but to the point of being embarrassed, considering the fact that at one time it was the party to be reckoned with.

On 10 April 1961, SNAP that became the third party to be formed after Sarawak United People’s Party and Party Negara Sarawak opened the way for the Dayaks to play active politics just before Sarawak obtaining its independence 1963. Synonymous with Dayak politics, it produced Sarawak’s first Chief Minister in the person of Stephen Kalong Ningkan.

However, SNAP’s fortunes began to decline after the 1982 leadership crisis during which James Wong took over the leadership at the expense of the support of the Dayaks who formed between 80 percent and 90 percent of the party membership. That crisis led to the formation of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak in 1983.

But the 2002 crisis, another leadership crisis, between Wong and a group of Dayaks led by Peter Tinggom dealt a fatal blow to the party when the Registrar of Societies decided to deregister it on 5 November 2002 ignoring the appeals from both sides.

Basically, the crisis was triggered with the expulsion of the MP for Bintulu Tiong King Sing over an issue involving the construction of a TV3 station in Bintulu.

The party accused Tiong of failing to honour his word of donating RM1.5 million to finance part of the project which was RM4 million. Both the Federal Government and TV3 agreed to come up with RM1 million and RM1.5 million respectively.

Tiong who was then treasurer general of the party denied that he had promised to come up with the money.

However, SNAP found Tiong guilty as charged under Article V, Clause (iii) and (vi) of the party constitution.

“Article V – Expulsion of members
(iii) Destroys or attempts to destroy the integrity and good name of the party; or and

(vi) Incites hatred and animosity amongst members or against any Party leaders.”

The case against Tiong was heard on 11 April 2002 at the party headquarters. All the Central Working Committee members attended the meeting.

Before the expulsion order was mentioned, nine members of the CWC led by Tinggom staged a walk-out in protest against the decision. They found that Tiong’s expulsion was flawed when two of the seven appointed CWC members took part in the decision.

The appointment of the two had not been lodged with the Registrar of Societies, although the party constitution to increase the appointed members from five to seven was amended and endorsed in 2000 TGM.

Thus all decisions including expelling Tiong made by the CWC with votes from the seven appointed members were invalid, null and void.

William Mawan, then the Minister of the Environment and Public Health, and obviously the leader of the group brought up the matter with the ROS. The protracted crisis led to the party’s deregistration and the formation of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party. But SNAP applied for stay of execution pending its appeal to the Court of Appeal.

That exactly is the story.

Since that crisis and the demise of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak in October 2004 also due to leadership crisis, had left Dayaks who were not with Barisan Nasional in political limbo.

Now that the Court of Appeal has made its decision in SNAP’s favour, many Dayaks both outside and within the Barisan Nasional are closely watching SNAP’s next move.
The first thing they are interested to know is when SNAP will be holding its TGM and the election of new office-bearers in the next two or three months.

Can they bring in new professionals and the thousands of ex-PBDS members to join the party?

To them this is vital if the party wants to be respected and to be reckoned with. They feel that SNAP should try especially to woo the ex-PBDS members who are still angry with the BN government and authorities for deregistering PBDS and for refusing to register Malaysian Dayak Congress as a political party to replace PBDS.

“We are closely watching SNAP’s next move,” said Daniel Tajem, a former senior vice-president before he was kicked out from the party in 1983.

Many prefer SNAP to remain in the Pakatan Rakyat as it can form the “Dayak arm” of the coalition. At the moment the Dayak interests are being covered by the multi-racial PKR whereas the Chinese and the Malay interests are being looked after by DAP and PAS respectively.

But a BN leader who refuses to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter believes that if SNAP is to remain in PR it may live to regret its decision.
To him, returning to BN should be an ideal and strategic move. Firstly, it can claim back all the seats now under the hands of SPDP. After all, SPDP is the “pretender”. So SPDP can be advised to dissolve and return to SNAP. After all SPDP is the off-spring of SNAP. From here, it can slowly and surely gain its past glory.

To his knowledge SNAP has never been expelled from the BN nor has it left the BN. This has been confirmed by SNAP Secretary General Stanley Jugol.

The BN leader says that once in BN, SNAP (including the dissolved SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak can discuss the merger of the two parties. Currently the merger between PRS and SPDP goes nowhere as there are obstacles that both parties are unable to solve.

“This is the bigger picture that SNAP must think in the interest of the future of Dayaks in this country,” he said.

But the question is: is SPDP prepared to dissolve itself for the bigger interest of the Dayak community? And the other big problem is that whether the Barisan Nasional component parties are ready to accept SNAP back.

Chief Minister and Chairman of State BN Abdul Taib Mahmud has made it very clear that only a collective decision by the BN parties can determine whether SNAP can return to the coalition.

“A lot of waters have gone under the bridge. I have to discuss it with other parties,” he said.

No doubt there are people including Dayaks themselves who do not wish Dayaks to be united under one political umbrella as this will pose a threat to their positions. In fact they prefer the current political scenario whereby the Dayaks are split right, left and centre: some are in SNAP, PKR, PRS, SPDP, PBB and even SUPP.

This results in Dayaks having weak and ineffective voice in articulating the community’s hopes and aspirations. And yet the Barisan Nasional parties consider the Dayaks as their “fixed deposits” in the coming election as they the urban voters are no longer reliable.

Given a new lease of life and the possible injection of new blood including professionals into the party, can SNAP be able to convince the Dayaks in the rural areas to support its political struggle and to reduce the BN’s “fixed deposits”?

This is its biggest test.

Empurau and solidarity dinner

SPDP president William Mawan’s remarks that the “group of eight” who were looking for empurau – the most expensive fish in Kapit (now about RM500 a kilo) - when they attended a PRS function last Saturday, have irked them.

“We don’t look for empurau. We are serious about merger,” said Peter Gani, a member of SPDP council member who together with five lawmakers and two other supreme council members last month walked out from a SPDP council meeting.

“Mawan’s remarks show that he is not interested in the merger proposal as he poked fun at our efforts,” he added.

On the proposed solidarity dinner, Gani said that Mawan could order a lot of empurau for the dinner.

“But can a large amount of empurau and crates of beer drown our problems in SPDP? Can our differences be washed away with the drinking of beer?” he asked.

Gani said that the SPDP president made a lot of promises even swearing by the light (api) and before the light went off he had already broken his promises.

“While on one hand he tries to mend fences with the renegades, he on the other hand introduces a disciplinary committee. Actually he is sharpening his daggers.

“We must beware not to stick our heads into the lion’s mouth,” he added.

Meanwhile, the five – State Assemblyman for Tasik Biru Peter Nansian, State Assemblyman for Marudi Sylvester Enteri, State Assemblyman for Batu Danau Paulus Gumbang, State Assemblywoman for Bekenu Rosey Yunus and the Mas Gading MP Dr. Tiki Lafe – met the BN secretary general Tengku Adnan soon after their return from Kapit yesterday.

According to one of the leaders, they told the BN secretary general that they would never return to the fold of SPDP as they have no more trust on the party leadership.

“The real root cause of the problem is that the president has been lying to us many times in the past.

“We cannot stand it any longer,” they told him.

In replying to a question posed by The Broken Shield regarding the solidarity dinner, Gani said: “We can forget the empurau as we prefer to go for smaller and less expensive fish, the one we can afford. Even ikan pusu is good for us.”

“You can tell SPDP leaders that we can only return if the three leaders step down,” he said, refusing to reveal the names of the three leaders.

Isn’t the shield of the SPDP going to be broken? Any bet? – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

PKR welcomes the renegades

Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is willing to accept Peter Nansian and his group to join the party if they cannot join Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) after they have found Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) losing its idealism, said its chairman Baru Bian (pic above).

Baru was asked to comment on the current problem faced by the five elected representatives of SPDP who have abandoned the party due to their unhappiness and lack of trust on the party leadership.

The five – State Assemblyman for Tasik Biru, Peter Nansian, the State Assemblyman for Marudi, Sylvester Enteri, State Assemblyman for Batu Danau, Paulus Gumbang, State Assemblywoman for Bekenu, Rosey Yunus and the Mas Gading Member of Parliament Dr. Tiki Lafe – have cited loss of confidence on President William Mawan’s leadership.

They are seeking to merge with another BN component party Parti Rakyat Sarawak, but PRS president James Masing cannot simply merge with them as they have not been authorized by the party to do so. Masing wants “full merger” with SPDP.

Nor can they be parked temporarily with PRS due to strong opposition from other BN component parties especially SPDP.

“Well, if that is the problem, it is better for them to join us in PKR as it is the only multi-racial and multi-religious party in the country.

“In PKR there is no one dominant race. Each leader is fighting for every Malaysian,” he said, pointing out that political parties based on race and religion are no longer relevant in the country.

Previously such parties might flourish, but nowadays they should be dismantled. And the country needs a party of multi-racialism, he said.

He added: “What is important is what the party is fighting for. What is the dasar (policy) of the party? For PKR it is true to the word – keadilan (justice).”

Baru who chaired the meeting of the State leadership council told the Press that by the end of March, State PKR will come up with the State policy taken from the National policy such as on land issues, economy, petroleum and so on.

He said the central leadership has agreed to recognise the 18 points of Sarawak’s guarantees in the federation of Malaysia and they want to impose them.

“The other attractive point in the national policy is the decentralization of the state economy and this is important in the federation such as the federation of Malaysia.

“What Kuala Lumpur gets from Sarawak so much, but what we in Sarawak get in return are only peanuts. We want to reverse it. Currently we are the 4th poorest state in the country and through this decentralization of state economy we will be one of the richest States in the country.

“I am sure we will be able to transform Sarawak and the coming election is the golden opportunity for us to do so,” he said.

Baru also disclosed that the Register of Societies (ROS) has approved another 14 of its divisions bringing to 29 it has formed so far. Only two more are yet to be formed. Each division represents one parliamentary constituency.

“We are also discussing issues pertaining to the reorganization and the setting up of our divisions and structures with a view to prepare ourselves for the coming election. Prime Minister Najib was here and his presence was an indication of an early election.

“We are moving to every division. And we have some leaders from Kuala Lumpur to come to Sarawak to see our party members and opinion leaders,” he said.

On the allocation of seats, Baru said that they have not finalised it and he would be meeting with leaders from DAP, PAS and SNAP very soon.

They hoped that in every state constituency of the 71, we will challenge the BN on a one to one basis, he said. - The Broken Shield

Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Nansian and Co have built a bridge to PRS!

Show of unity...The "SPDP Group of 5" at a press conference chaired by Masing at PRS headquarters on 24 Feb

KUCHING – As the year of the tiger starts to unfold with uncertainty, so is the relationship between two rural based parties, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS). The relationship is not only getting jittery but also becoming wider and wider apart.

The reason: five SPDP lawmakers unhappy with their president over a number of issues including not keeping his promise of maintaining a status quo after the party’s triennial general assembly are anxious to “jump ship” to PRS under the pretext of “merger”.

During the party’s supreme council meeting last month, the five – State Assemblyman for Tasik Biru Peter Nansian, State Assemblyman for Marudi Sylvester Enteri, State Assemblyman for Batu Danau Paulus Gumbang, State Assemblywoman for Bekenu Rosey Yunus and MP for Mas Gading Dr. Tiki Lafe and three Supreme Council members namely George Garai, Peter Gani and Eda Egar walked out of the meeting when president William Mawan announced Nelson Balang Rining as a replacement for Enteri.

Initially Enteri was the leader and he gave reasons why they walked out, and one of them was that they were unhappy with the president who failed to keep his promise of keeping Enteri as secretary general. They met Prime Minister Najib and Chief Minister Taib Mahmud why they wanted to abandon SPDP and join PRS as temporary “political parkers” until the next State election.

After some time it was suggested that Peter Nansian should take over, firstly because he was a senior vice president and secondly they did not want the public to have the perception that Enteri was a “cry baby” or a sour grape if he were to continue to lead. But when Nansian took over as the leader of the renegades, they changed their intention to be parked in PRS to that of merger. This, they believed, would justify their jumping ship even though “merger” has already dead years ago.

On 24 February at a Press conference, when PRS president James Masing announced the so-called formation of merger committees of both parties, Nansian who was present again explained the justification of them reviving the merger proposal and claimed that the party president William Mawan and his deputy, Peter Nyarok of being controlled by someone so much so that they are unable to make decisions for the party including the proposed merger with Parti Rakyat Sarawak.

“We cannot move if we are being controlled by someone,” he said.

“The merger proposal has been there, five years already and nothing has moved as our president and his deputy have to refer to someone before making a decision,” he said at the joint press conference.

“We have to do it (merger) now and we are in fact doing a favour for the party and the members since they cannot do it,” said Nansian, who is also member of the SPDP merger committee.

Nyarok is the chairman of the committee. The other member is Sylvester Enteri.

“We must have the courage to do the things for the people and the country and that is why we have to start the ball rolling, because in the merger we work together in a bigger body in order to serve the rakyat better.

“We believe that what we are doing is the best and only time will tell,” he said, adding that they were serious about it and had actually discussed a roadmap as to what to do.

Asked to name the “someone” who controlled the party, Nansian said: “You know whom I refer to”.

Earlier Masing introduced members of the “group of five” to the press at PRS headquarters. Except for Dr. Tiki Lafe, MP for Mas Gading, the others present were Nansian, Enteri, Paulus Gumbang, state Assemblyman for Batu Danau and Rosey Yunus, state Assemblywoman for Bekenu.

Rosey flew all the way from Miri just to attend the Press conference.

The “group of five” and three other members of SPDP supreme council have been in the limelight after they walked out from a SPDP council meeting last month due to major disagreements with the party president.

They have told the Press that they would never come back to SPDP and are seeking a “merger” with PRS in order to remain in the Barisan Nasional.

Commenting on their move, Masing said that PRS was very happy to welcome Nansian and his group to discuss the proposed merger between SPDP and PRS.

“This Press conference is to formally reply to Nansian’s request for merger with us. We are confident that we will be able to talk to Nansian and his group and I believe they are very serious about it.

“The merger must be genuine and must be in the spirit of cooperation; it must be inclusive, meaning to say that others can also come and join the merger.

“It is very urgent now and we cannot afford to waste time any longer especially in view of the coming election. We have to strengthen the rural-based constituencies,” he said, pointing out that the rural-based constituencies are the “battle grounds” for the coming election.

“Whoever controls the rural areas be it BN or PRM that coalition will control the state,” he said.

Asked whether Johnichal Rayong, State Assemblyman for Engkilili and Larry Sng, State Assemblyman for Pelagus, who are both partyless be invited to join the merger, Masing said that Larry could not be invited as he has been sacked from the party.

He said Rayong also could not come in due to technical reasons. Masing did not explain.

In the meantime, SPDP will hold its supreme council meeting this Sunday (28 Feb) at its headquarters, Badruddin Road, Kuching. Top of its agenda is expected to be the “group of five elected representatives” and three other members of the supreme council who have defected to PRS through what they called “merger”.

Will the eight attend the supreme council meeting?

Nansian on behalf of the rest said: “We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”

Of course, they cannot cross the bridge, after all they have already burnt it, and what I understand is that they are going to cross another bridge to a supreme council meeting of PRS in Kapit this Saturday, 27 Feb 2010, where and when their membership will be deliberated (and accepted). - The Broken Shield

Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Is SPDP’s Shield going to be broken?

Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) is heading towards a big trouble when five of its elected representatives and three members of the supreme council are abandoning the party and are applying to join Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), another member of the Barisan Nasional (BN).

The five are State Assemblyman for Tasik Biru, Peter Nansian, the State Assemblywoman for Bekenu Rosey Yunus, the State Assemblyman for Marudi, Sylvester Enteri, State Assemblyman for Batu Danau, Paulus Gumbang and the MP for Mas Gading Dr. Tiki Lafe and three supreme council members – George Garai, Peter Gani and Eda Egar.

They want to join PRS under the pretext of merger so that their “transfer” to PRS will be smooth. More are expected to join them. The “group of eight” is aptly applying the SPDP principle – "Sapa Pedis Dulu Pansut".

But SPDP deputy president Peter Nyarok in a statement today has taken to task the group led by Datuk Peter Nansian for acting on their own accord without the sanction of SPDP for hastening and negotiating the merger with Parti Rakyat Sarawak.

“The group needs to be reminded that SPDP has already appointed a committee under my chairmanship,” Nyarok said, stressing that the committee has to work jointly with the committee from PRS to discuss and chart out the roadmap for the merger.

The chairman of the PRS’s appointed committee for the merger was the late Datuk Dublin Unting Ingkot and is now replaced by Dato Billy Abit Joo.

The joint-committee, co-chaired by the two chairmen, has met three times and to date it has shown progress, although a lot more areas have to be covered and resolved.

“The wishes and views of party members at branch and divisional levels must be taken into account and respected before any major decision such as the proposed merger can be made.

“SPDP wishes to reiterate that no individuals or groups other than the appointed Merger Committee are authorized to speak or negotiate on matters relating to the merger on behalf of SPDP.

“Those refusing to comply with this procedure are deemed to be acting on their own accord and SPDP does not recognize their action,” said Nyarok.

”It must be acknowledged that the merger is a complex and tedious process as it involves looking into the interests and sentiments of leaders and members of both political parties.

“It is a process that cannot be forcibly hurried by some individuals who fail to see the big picture and are not able to operate according to the order and discipline of their party,” he said.

Background to the crisis

It is indeed a pity that SPDP which broke away from Sarawak National Party (SNAP) in 2002 is facing a similar problem – all due to big towkays. During SNAP’s crisis, the “gang of nine” as the group was then known walked out from a CWC meeting when the meeting decided to expel Tiong King Sing from the party. Ironically, the “gang of nine” who was unhappy with the decision to expel Tiong was led by William Mawan who later formed what is now known as SPDP.

This time the “Group of eight” was not happy with the party president’s decision to replace Sylvester Enteri with Nelson Balang as secretary-general after the president did not honour his promise to maintain status quo in the party prior to the party’s triennial general assembly. Initially Balang refused to accept the appointment, as he knew that his appointment might cause a split in the party. But after a week of persuasion, he finally agreed.

It was also understood that the president wanted Kilat Briak, a prominent lawyer who hails from Saratok to be appointed as secretary-general. But Nyarok vehemently opposed it as he did not want Kilat to be too strong in the party. Nyarok does not want Mawan to groom Kilat to replace him in the Krian constituency. Nyarok, the sources said, wants his son-in-law to replace him perhaps in the coming state election.

But for the “group of eight” Enteri’s termination as secretary-general is a mere excuse. The problem in the party has been brewing up for the past one year or so especially when the president has allegedly failed to perform as a leader such as not keeping his promises made to some senior members of the party as well as not having a mind of his own; he listens too much to one man, the man who treated every member of the supreme council of the party as small children.

And during the last TGA, the man really showed his authority when he made decisions on behalf of the president such as deciding the list of the president’s men as well as the list of SPDP youth. When anyone questioned him, he shouted at him as if he was a beggar.

Mawan has been reminded about these insults, but he ignored them. Now he is paying the price of not listening to the party members. And the “gang of eight” has made up their mind to abandon SPDP and join PRS. They had first informed Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. It is understood the two leaders seemingly agreed with their decision.

All the Dayak-based parties have shields as their symbols. And we have seen by now how the symbols of Dayak-based parties - the Shield of Sarawak National Party and the Shield of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) being broken; and how the Shield of Pesaka absorbed into Parti Bumiputra and how the Shield of PRS was almost broken. Is the Shield of SPDP going to be broken as a result of the current crisis? – The Broken Shield

Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/

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).