Dare Mawan face off with Taib?

(Taken From Free Malaysia Today)

January 28, 2012

The next general election may see more of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's party members contesting under the banner of SPDP, PRS or even SUPP.

KUCHING:  Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) is not out of the woods yet despite the sacking of its five errant elected representatives, better known as the SPDP 5.

In fact word has it, that party  president William Mawan may now be faced with a bigger and more complex problem.

The five have declared themselves BN friendly and whilst they may be out of SPDP, they are not out of Barisan Nasional. They were all elected under a BN ticket, albeit under SPDP banner.

The question sifting through the party’s rank and file is: ‘Does Mawan have the political mettle, skill and courage to deal with this ‘new’ challenge’?

Because Mawan will be up against a political megamind – Taib Mahmud.

Will he dare face-off with Taib?

The four ex-SPDP assemblymen – Sylvester Entri (Marudi), Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu), Paulus Gumbang (Batu Danau) and the MP for Mas Gading Tiki Lafe are not ordinary elected representatives.

They are ‘PBB men” planted in SPDP and allegedly backed by Taib. PBB or Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu is Taib’s political vehicle.

Following their expulsion, they are now going to register a BN club with the Registrar of Societies to justify or sustain them as BN representatives.

This will also ensure that they continue to receive minor rural projects for their respective constituencies.

Mawan refuses to acknowledge the club as a political entity.

But that is his problem. The five have Taib’ s blessings to start the club.

SPDP ‘powerless’

Once registered, the BN club has the legal entity of a political party. In other words, Mawan cannot say that they are ‘partyless’.

This will justify Taib’s decision to retain Entri, Nansian and Rosey as assistant ministers.

The appointment of Paulus Gumbang as chairman of the Miri Port Authority effective next month is the latest indication that Taib is not supporting Mawan.

The chairmanship of the authority has always been allocated to SPDP.

Mawan recommended his own man to replace Rosey who has been appointed assistant minister.

But Mawan’s recommendation was rejected indicating again that SPDP is now ‘powerless’.

The formation of the BN club has two immediate effects:

Firstly, by recognizing the formation of the club, Taib may want them to defend their seats as they are still considered ‘winnable candidates’. 

Under the BN spirit of understanding, Mawan should oppose it.  But does he have the courage to protest?

If he is strong enough to defend the rights of SPDP in BN, it is possible that the seats may be returned to the party.

Taib may chose to re-use the formula he adopted to solve the problems between SNAP  and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) in the 1983 state election.

In this formula, both parties were allowed to use their own symbols for a ‘free-for-all’ in the disputed constituencies.

Setting a precedent

PBDS which broke away from SNAP demanded to contest in 16 state seats. SNAP strongly opposed them.

In order to show which of the two had the support of the people, Taib then proposed a ‘free-for-all’ in the disputed seats. Both SNAP and PBDS won eight seats each.

But the ‘danger’ in this solution is that the BN leadership may be forced to take sides in the midst of the electioneering as it did to PBDS.

After all BN has nothing to lose. Whichever party wins is still a victory for Barisan Nasional.

The party which allies itself with BN would also see financial and logistical support from the Barisan Nasional.

But such an action would further worsen the animosity between the two parties and this can cause a major problem for BN.

Secondly, with the formation of the club, every time there are internal problems in a Barisan Nasional component party, the disgruntled members may quit the party and join the BN Club.

The BN club would set a precedent. This is the danger the Barisan Nasional coalition may face later on.

Such scenario can happen to any party in the Barisan Nasional. It can even happen to PBB itself.

What would Taib say if PBB members who are not happy with him quit the party and join the club?

Then there are the seven elected representatives from Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) who are also in limbo.

Fear of political backlash

The six are – former SUPP deputy secretary general Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Asan) Tiong Thai King (MP for Sibu), Ranom Mina (Opar assemblyman), Jerip Susil (Bengoh), Francis Harden (Simanggang), Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili) and Lee Kim Shin (Senadin).

In the event that SUPP is deregistered due to breaches in party elections or if they are unable to reconcile with the newly elected president Peter Chin, Wong and his group have made it very clear that they will not form a new party for the time being.

It is, however, possible they may join the BN club and remain BN friendly.

As a UNIMAS lecturer Jeneri Amir said: “By allowing individuals who have been sacked from a Barisan component party to form or join a BN club, the implications are far-reaching.

“If such a club is being condoned by BN, It will create confusion, cause splits and weaken the coalition,” he said.

For the coming general election, it is anticipated by other leaders of BN component parties that more ‘PBB people’ will be contesting under the banner of SPDP, PRS or even SUPP.

This is based on what Taib said that he alone will determine who will be the winnable candidates.

For the time being no one dares to speak out their minds for fear of political backlash, but murmurs of dissatisfaction have getting louder in SPDP.

“What is the point of having our own political parties with our own presidents, if they cannot nominate their own party members to be candidates?

“We may as well dissolve our parties and join PBB or even join the Opposition?” said an angry senior SPDP leader who did not wish to be identified.

Mawan expels the remaining four

KUCHING:  The President of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party William Mawan Ikom has formally sacked the remaining four of the group which called themselves as ‘SPDP 5’ apparently ending a two-year old crisis in the party.

“They are sacked from the party and by implication they are no longer members of Barisan Nasional.

“The decision is regrettable, but you know I have been holding back (the decision), because I don’t like to do the thing that we don’t like to do.

“But sometimes a decision will have to be made in order to do justice to ourselves, to the party and to the Barisan Nasional and probably to the four,” he said after chairing the party’s supreme council meeting.

The four who are elected representatives are Tiki Lafe, (Mas Gading MP), Peter Nansian, (Tasik Biru assemblyman), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) and Paulus Gumbang (Batu Danau).

The leader of the group, Sylvester Entri, Marudi assemblyman, was sacked in November last year.

All the five have expressed no confidence in the SPDP leadership after they walked out from the party’s supreme council meeting in January in 2010 following a major disagreement over the replacement and appointment of Secretary General.

Since then they had failed to attend the party’s supreme council meetings even though they had been invited to do so.

In announcing the expulsion, Mawan said:  “We wish them all the best.  We know that as far as SPDP is concerned, they are no longer members of the SPDP and by implication they are no longer members of Barisan Nasional.

“But if they profess to continue to support BN, that is well and good. But it should not within the definition of the BN framework, the understanding and the BN teamwork,” he said.

Regarding the formation of BN club by the five, Mawan said that he was not sure whether they as members of the club are members of the Barisan Nasional.

“We have various BN clubs and political clubs even in universities in London. But with regard to those who were once belonging to component parties and have resigned or sacked, I am not sure at the moment whether they still can continue to form an entity.

“We can acknowledge the existence of the support group, but not as an entity. It is not in line with the principle and understanding of Barisan Nasional. Otherwise it can set a dangerous precedent.

 “I shudder to think of the consequences,” Mawan added.

On the question of Chief Minister expressing support for the group forming a club, Mawan said that all component parties wanted BN to be strong and wanted everyone to support the Barisan Nasional.

“But he (Chief Minister) did not say that he formally recognised the legal existence of the club. Certainly the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and even I cannot refuse the support given by those even by those who have been sacked, except that we cannot formally say that their entity is legal in the context of the existing principle of Barisan Nasional.

“You cannot deviate from that,” Mawan said.

He made it very clear that his party would oppose the group joining any member party of the Barisan Nasional or even ‘parking’ with any party in Barisan.

“It is not the question whether we support them or not joining any other party in the Barisan. It is never the case. That is understood long time ago.

‘Anybody who said otherwise is on purpose.  Not because they don’t know. They just like to say it in order to confuse the people for their own ends,” he said.

Mawan, who is Social Development Minister, was apparently referring to the President of Parti Rakyat Sarawak James Masing who had invited the five to join his party or to be ‘parked’ for the time being.

Meanwhile, Mawan has identified three possible persons as potential candidates to replace Tiki in the Mas Gading parliamentary constituency.

The three are Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Ik Pahon Joyik, Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) deputy general manager Anthony Nogeh and Zecon general manager Rayan Narong.

The three were introduced to the public over a dinner over the week-end in Bau.

2011 was an eventful year

KUCHING: As we usher in the year 2012, let us, however, ponder for a moment on some of the major events in 2011 that had direct or indirect bearing on our lives or that had influenced our mindsets and perceptions.

Topping the list of these events was the April 16 state election which saw the Opposition of Pakatan Rakyat coalition winning 15 seats – three by Sarawak PKR, and 12 by DAP.

Although the number is small as compared with 56 obtained by BN component parties including one BN friendly independent, it was a significant gain by the opposition from six to 15.

The Opposition could have won more if only there was a fair election.  Nevertheless, the support from particularly the rural communities had improved tremendously towards the opposition.

In urban areas, we saw Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) had almost wiped out by the Opposition – one went to PKR, and 12 to DAP. It managed to retain the seats of Senadin and Bawang Assan, and four Dayak majority seats out of 19 seats it contested.

Thus SUPP which claimed to represent the Chinese community has lost the right to speak for or on behalf of the Chinese community.

The results of the election also shocked Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) when it lost two key seats to PKR especially the seat of Krian whose incumbent was SPDP Deputy President Peter Nyarok Anak Entri. The other seat was Ba’Kelalan which went to PKR chief Baru Bian.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak lost only one seat, the seat of Pelagus, to an independent candidate George Lagong, who is the uncle of the incumbent Larry Sng. Sng was sacked from PRS after he tried to ‘overthrow’ PRS President James Masing in a bitter leadership struggle. Masing blamed the defeat of his candidate to ‘sabotage’ by certain BN leaders.

During the 10 day campaign period, the Opposition successfully highlighted in urban constituencies the issues of corruption, abuse of power, nepotism and cronyism allegedly committed by the state government.  DAP in particular accused SUPP of part and parcel of the ‘corrupted’ government under Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Taib’s wealth and that of his family’s and their grabbing of prime state land as well as native customary right land became the hottest issues. DAP said that Taib’s abuse of power had allegedly led to the deprivation of business opportunities among the Chinese.

Land rents and premiums and lands under Section 47, education, Chinese education and schools were too hot topics during the campaign.

Partly responsible for SUPP’s poor showing was also its own making - the internal bickering that had been going since 2004 parliamentary election, and worsened in 2006 state election during which SUPP lost six Chinese seats to the Opposition.  Despite the clear warning from the Chinese community, SUPP’s power struggle became uncontrollable; it even seeped into all the 43 branches of the party. Because, controlling the party means more government contracts, business opportunities, ministerial positions, directorships of government linked companies, and so on.

Thus, in the April election, SUPP suffered major losses. As a result of the losses, SUPP President George Chan stepped down as president claiming responsibility. But his stepping down heightened the bickering so much so that the party was split right at the centre with one group led by Peter Chin, the organising secretary and other by Wong Soon Koh, the deputy secretary general.

In their attempts to replace Chan, their supporters resorted to ‘underhand’ tactics in branch elections to elect delegates for the party’s triennial delegates conference. These delegates would then elect the office-bearers including the president.

However, Wong and his team and supporters boycotted the TDC held from 9 to 11 December accusing Peter Chin and his supporters of breaching rules and regulations regarding branch elections and TDC.

Chin was elected as the president of the party without much effort at the TDC.

But Wong and his team have regarded Chin’s election as ‘illegal’, and have brought their complaints to the ROS.

If it is found ‘guilty’ by ROS, SUPP may be ordered to have another TDC failing which it may be deregistered.

What had made SUPP’s TDC much more interesting than some of the Hong Kong TV series was that the fire that burnt the conference room of the SUPP headquarters two days after the TDC.

This had prompted Wong to say that this was an act of sabotage in order to get rid of evidence of manipulations of the TDC.

Now the next question is: How will a divided SUPP fare in the coming parliamentary election?  Of particular concern to the BN leadership are the six Chinese majority constituencies of Stampin, Bandar Kuching, Lanang, Sibu, Sarikei and Miri.

The next issue was the cabinet reshuffle. Following the defeat of Chan in his Piasau seat, Chief Minister Taib Mahmud had a difficult task in forming his cabinet without a strong Chinese representative. It took him more than five months to form a state cabinet and had failed to fill one of the two posts of Deputy Chief Ministers.

As there are only two Chinese elected representatives, it would not be fair for Taib to appoint one of them as a deputy chief minister especially when SUPP has only six seats. Moreover, such an appointment will sure to slight James Masing whose party has eight seats.

Many would believe that the post of Deputy Chief Minister should go to Masing; but Taib did not consider it. Instead he just promoted Masing to a ‘senior’ minister', which is meaningless.

Thus, for the first time in 30 years Taib’s cabinet has only one deputy chief minister. In 1980s, there used to be three deputy chief ministers from SUPP, PBB and PBDS. When PBDS left the coalition in 1987, it had only two DCMs until the last cabinet reshuffle.

Looking at the whole cabinet 2011, both Mawan’s ministry has been reduced from Social Development and Urbanisation to only Social Development. Like Mawan, Masing retained his Land Development Ministry which has little power and even has no budget allocation.

Taib gave powerful ministries to his own men: Awang Tengah Ali Hassan was assigned Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister, Industrial Development Minister and Public Utilities Minister; Abang Johari Tun Openg was given the ministries of Tourism and Housing; Adenan Satem was made the Minister in the chief Minister’s office and the Minister with special functions.

Even assistant ministers from PBB are powerful than Mawan and Masing. The newly elected assemblyman Len Talif Salleh was appointed assistant minister of Environment, and assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s Office in charge of promotion of technical education;  Naroden Majais, assistant minister of Resource Planning and assistant minister of Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development; and Julaihi Narawi, assistant minister of rural Development and assistant minster of Industrial Development (Investment and Promotion).

Another interesting feature of the 2011 was the never-ending internal feuds in SPDP which were carried forward from January 2010, cultimated in the expulsion of Sylvester Entri, a leader of the rebel group known as the SPDP 5 or G5 (group of 5) and the stripping off of four other members of the group from their respective posts in the party.

Entri walked out in protest against the decision of the SPDP leadership to replace him as Secretary General in January 2010 and he was followed by seven other supreme council members including four elected representatives.

The four representatives comprised Peter Nansian, Senior Vice President (Tasik Biru Assemblyman), Dr. Tiki Lafe, vice-president (MP for Mas Gading), Rosey Yunus, Vice-President (Bekenu assemblywoman), and Paulus Gumbang, Information Chief (Batu Danau Assemblyman).

And since then the G5 refused to attend supreme council meetings or any other functions organised by the party.

The internal feuds had one way or the other contributed to the loss of SPDP seats of Krian which was held by its Deputy President Peter Nyarok and Ba’Kelalan previously held by the party’s Secretary General Nelson Balang Rining in the April election.

If the bickering continues into 2012, it is expected to undermine SPDP’s chances in four parliamentary seats – Mas Gading, Saratok, Baram and Bintulu – as the rebels are also putting candidates in these constituencies.

Although they are no longer SPDP members, they insist they are still members of Barisan Nasional under which tickets they had contested and will contest in future elections.

If Barisan Nasional leadership accepts them as direct members of Barisan Nasional which was registered as a political party in January 1974, then nothing SPDP can do.

Likewise, Wong Soon Koh and other six elected representatives may also join BN as its direct members if they cannot reconcile with Peter Chin, and his team.

If this is to happen, then more problems are expected between SPDP and SUPP with the Barisan Nasional. They can choose to be strong and protest or just toe the line. Most likely they (SPDP and SUPP) will suffer.

Another highlight of 2011 was the revelation of the alleged accumulated wealth of Chief Minister and his family members. Nobody really knows the amount of their wealth. But it is said to be tens of billions of ringgit.

From 14 companies alone, they are alleged to have accumulated RM4.6 billion.

According to a letter submitted by the international and Malaysian non-governmental organisations to the Malaysian authorities including Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Taib and his family members have interest in 332 Malaysian and 85 foreign companies.

Several reports have been lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, but so far no news of the investigations has been revealed.

Sarawak DAP has also disclosed that certain prime state land have been alienated to Taib’s family members’ companies at very cheap prices.

It is expected that Taib’s alleged corruption, abuse of power, land grabbing of native customary rights land will continue be issues in the coming election.

SPDP crisis deepens

14 Oct 2011

KUCHING: As the two-year old crisis in Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party deepens, the five rebels popularly known as the ‘SPDP 5’ challenge the party to expel them by refusing to reply to the show-cause letter given to them.

“It is up to them to expel us. That is their business. We are not going to reply to the show-cause letter,” said Peter Nansian, Senior vice-president of the party.

“Our statement today is good enough in response to the show-cause letter,” he added at a Press conference.

The other four are the MP for Mas Gading Dr. Tiki Lafe, vice-president; Sylvester Entri, vice President and Marudi assemblyman; Rosey Yunus, Supreme Council member and Bekenu assemblywomen, and Paulus Gumbang, supreme council member and Batu Danau assemblyman.

So far only Entri has received a show-cause letter as to why action could not be taken against him after he failed to attend the party’s supreme council meetings and other functions organised by the party.

“If the party takes action against one of us, it means you take action against all of us, and we will act as a group,” Nansian said.

“We have pledged to sink and swim together,” he added.

Asked if they are going to form a new party in the event they are expelled, he said: “We will tell you when we cross the bridge.

“For the time being, we are looking for the best solution to resolve the conflict in the party,” said Nansian, who is also the Tasik Biru assemblyman.

It is understood that the ‘rebels’ have formed a committee to study the possibility of forming a new party as well as to look into a temporary parking with one of the parties in the state Barisan Nasional.

Or they may remain partyless, but for Nansian, Entri and Rosey, their positions as assistant ministers are at the pleasure of the Chief Minister.

There was a precedent in the person of Larry Sng, who was partyless, but the Chief Minister still retained him as assistant minister.

Earlier reading a statement, Nansian said: “Today is one of the saddest and most regrettable moments of our lives to have come to a point that we have to make a decision to declare that we have lost faith and confidence in our President.

“He has now apparently no longer can resolve the current conflict in the party amicably and peacefully to maintain party unity and stability and to protect and safeguard BN seats vested in the party for a continuously strong BN government for the good of the rakyat.

“The last straw on the camel’s back that forced us to make this decision is that if the president seriously wants to resolve the current conflict in the party a ‘reconciliation or unity committee’ should have been formed rather than the ‘disciplinary committee’ to take action against us, which we feel very unfair and done solely chop us off,” he said.

Nansian said: “While we have extended our hands in reconciliation over the last two years by meeting him no less than three times formally as a group and more times on informal occasions, and agreed on many points on how to reconcile and work together to maintain stability and make the party stronger, has he implemented accordingly?

“Or is it not in the contrary whereby he has made many controversial remarks that create much uneasiness and suspicion within the party as well as between BN component parties?” he asked.

Nansian blamed the president for labelling them as the ‘rebels 5’ and the ‘group of 5’ and thus started the friction and faction in the party.

He also said the group is not happy when the president branded them as nominees of a BN component party and at the same time accused other BN component leaders of meddling in the party’s internal affairs.

Nansian said: “Our group pledges our undivided support to the leadership of Barisan Nasional at federal and state level.

“We will serve our people in our constituencies in the name of Barisan Nasional. We won the last state election with big majorities under the banner of Barisan Nasional.

“We will sink and swim with BN under the wise leadership of Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Sarawak,” he said.

Nansian did not specifically mention that Mawan should step down, but by saying that they have lost faith and confidence in his leadership, they are indirectly calling on him to step down.

To the group, that will be the ‘best solution’ to solve the conflict.

Except for Tiki, who had to attend to an official business, the rest were present at the press conference.

Meanwhile, Mawan when contacted refused to comment on the statement that the group has no faith and confidence on his leadership.

However, he is expected to issue a statement later.

The conflict within the party started after the December 2009 party election during which Mawan did not want any challenge to the top leadership after he heard some grumblings within the party.

One of the things that made members unhappy was the idea to extend its wing to Peninsula Malaysia. The idea came from the treasurer general Tiong King Sing, the MP for Bintulu, who had his own reasons to extend the party to the peninsula.

Among those who strongly opposed the idea was none other than Sylvester Entri, then the Secretary General. Tiong was heard by reporters of hurling unpleasant words against Entri and those present during one of the supreme council meetings.

From there on, rumours of ‘Team B’ preparing to challenge the leadership were circulated. But Mawan did not want any challenge to the president’s team by insisting on a status quo.

A pledge to that effect was signed by Mawan himself and distributed to all party leaders.

The ‘Team B’ agreed if their men like Entri retained as Secretary General. But in January 2010 in a supreme council meeting, Mawan replaced Entri with Nelson Balang Rining.

This triggered the conflict when the group walked out together with three other members from the meeting.

Since that January, the group had not attended any of the supreme council meetings or functions organised by the party.

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