Joseph Tawie
Saturday, 06 March 2010 07:13
KUCHING – With the imminent departure of five elected representatives from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, it appears that the party is treading the same path that Sarawak National Party had taken seven years ago towards political uncertainty and oblivion.
“If the crisis is not handled carefully, SPDP is going to meet the same fate that SNAP is experiencing now – political uncertainty and irrelevancy,” said a former SNAP senior vice president.
In January this year four State assemblymen – Sylvester Enteri (Member for Marudi), Peter Nansian (Member for Tasik Biru), Paulus Gumbang (Member for Batu Danau) and Rosey Yunus (Member for Bekenu) – walked out from SPDP’s supreme council meeting protesting against the decision to replace Enteri with Nelson Balang as secretary general.
Dr. Tiki Lafe, MP for Mas Gading, and three other supreme council members joined the protest.
And they have vowed never to return to the party as they have lost the trust and the confidence on the party leadership.
Enteri said: “We have no more trust on Mawan’s leadership and we have lost confidence in him to be the president of SPDP.
“As long as he is still the president, we will never go back to the party. Our option now is to seek refuge in Parti Rakyat Sarawak through the process of merger,” Enteri told The Malaysian Mirror.
Elections heightens problem
Their departure will leave SPDP with four State assemblymen and three MPs only and for now there are seemingly no immediate problems. But the problems are certain to get worse and become complex when the State election comes in a few months’ time.
No doubt SPDP will demand the four State seats be returned to them, assuming the dissenters are with PRS.
According to a BN understanding, they are not allowed to bring take seats with them. If they do, SPDP will certainly protest.
But will the BN leadership listen to them? And how effective will be their protest? The BN leadership will have to weigh which of the two sides is stronger.
Remember Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak, formed out of leadership crisis in SNAP, joined the State Barisan Nasional.
In the 1983 State election, SNAP, a member of the State Barisan Nasional, insisted that it would contest 18 seats and would not allow PBDS to contest any one of the seats that had been contested by SNAP in the previous election.
In order to solve the problem of seat allocation, the State Barisan met on 29 October 1983 and decided that the two Dayak-based parties were allowed to use their respective symbols in the coming election in a free fight in the disputed constituencies.
Sarawak United People’s Party and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu would not campaign for either party, saying they would remain neutral.
‘Right to use BN symbol’
But in the end, they supported PBDS’ candidates.
Although James Wong, SNAP president vehemently protested and demanded that it should be given the right to use the Barisan Nasional symbol of “dacing”, no body listened to him.
Could that kind of arrangement be used to enable SPDP and PRS to contest against one another in the four disputed seats of Tasik Biru, Marudi, Bekenu and Batu Danau if the four State Assemblymen were to join PRS?
Now, two interesting developments are taking place in the Barisan Nasional; one, it is not necessary to have a 100 % consensus in any decision, and two, any one can apply to become a BN direct member.
In the event that the four cannot be accepted to “merge” with PRS, perhaps, they can therefore apply to be direct members of Barisan Nasional and contest against SPDP’s candidates on BN ticket.
As there was precedence in the past, a free fight is expected in the disputed constituencies.
Problems in SPDP are very complex. The replacement of Enteri by Nelson Balang as secretary general of SPDP is but a small problem.
But if you delve deeper into the affairs of the party some bigger and serious issues are emerging out. Issues like the financial control of the party, the appointment of family members to the party, cronies given government contracts, back-stabbing and suspicions of “PBB moles” in the party are among them.
Dissenting voices
The dissenting voices in the party had been heard as early as in July in 2009 when the party discussed a move to expand its wings to West Malaysia and to create a “Puteri SPDP” in order to follow Umno.
Some supreme council members strongly objected to the move as the party, being small and rural based, should concentrate its focus in Sarawak rather than going to West Malaysia. There was also no need to create “Puteri SPDP”.
Enteri, who was then the secretary general, warned members of the implications. More over the party could not simply spread its wing to West Malaysia and to form “Puteri SPDP” as the party had first to seek the approval of the general assembly as well as to amend its constitution.
Enteri’s warning made those who were in favour of the proposals very angry, and during the ensuing debates, angry words were thrown at Enteri. Some even accused him of disloyal to the party.
Since then, the leadership tried to isolate Enteri, and the best opportunity to get rid of him was after the TGA when the president using his “presidential authority” could appoint any one to be the secretary general.
And what made the leadership more determined to replace Enteri was due to the alleged support he gave to Philip Ngo who challenged Peter Nyarok for the post of deputy president in the December last party elections.
“There are people behind the challenger and disciplinary action must be taken,” said Tiong King Sing, when he presented a statement of account to the assembly. Although Tiong did not name names, it was clearly he was referring to Enteri. All those present at the assembly knew this.
Other factors involved
There were also other factors that could have led to the present crisis. Before the party elections, there were rumours that Nyarok had expressed his intention to step down and had openly backed Tiong King Sing to contest as deputy president.
Nyarok’s intention thus created an opportunity for “free-for-all” contests in the seven-year old party.
So apart from Mawan’s “presidential line-up” there was another group, supposedly to be led by Peter Nansian who would go for the president’s post, while Enteri for the post of deputy president.
They claimed to have the support of almost all elected representatives including those who are still with Mawan now.
However, the rumours reached the ears of the president, who, in order to avoid the open contests, cleverly suggested that the party should maintain status quo.
The status quo situation would also mean the strengthening of the party and this was crucial in view of the coming election.
Every thing seemed to be back to normal after the TGA until the announcement to replace Enteri as the secretary general.
Enteri who took it very hard saw it as Mawan’s failure to honour his promise. He then walked out and was followed by seven members of the supreme council.
No sign of ebbing
Barisan Nasional leaders have expressed concern over the crisis as it is not showing any sign of ebbing, or any sign of compromise. The Chairman of the Barisan Nasional and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had summoned them in order to explain their actions. They also met with Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud for similar reasons.
The BN Secretary General Tengku Adnan was also dispatched to Kuching to talk to Mawan and the eight dissenters as well as James Masing, president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak who had agreed to merge with the group.
It seems that history is going to be repeated. In order to understand the present crisis, let us recap what happened to SNAP seven years ago.
On 11 April 2002 it was ironically William Mawan, SNAP vice president and State Assemblyman for Pakan, who was then the Minister of Environment and Public Health led eight other SNAP leaders in walking out from a SNAP central working committee meeting.
This was in protest against the decision of the CWC in expelling its former treasurer general and MP for Bintulu Tiong King Sing for alleged breach of party discipline.
The “gang of nine”, as they were popularly known included deputy president and MP for Saratok Peter Tinggom, vice president and State Assemblyman for Tasik Biru Peter Nansian, senior vice president and MP for Baram Jacob Sagan, vice president and State Assemblyman for Krian Peter Nyarok, vice president and state Assemblyman for Marudi Sylvester Enteri, vice president and state Assemblyman for Ba’Kelalan Dr. Judson Tagal, who was also SNAP youth leader, Vice president and former State Assemblyman for Meluan Geman Itam and MP for Mas Gading Dr. Tiki Lafe.
SNAP’s problems became more serious and complicated after it was discovered that the party had breached its own constitution when CWC’s seven appointed members took part in the decision to expel Tiong even though their appointments had not been approved by the Registrar of Societies.
Null and void
Although the amendment was endorsed at the 2000 triennial general meeting, it was never lodged with the Registrar of Societies, thus the appointment of the seven appointed members became null and void and so were all the decisions made by the CWC.
As both parties refused to compromise their principles, the Registrar of Societies had to come in; show-cause letters were issued to both sides. When their replies to the show-cause letters did not satisfy the ROS, the “gang of nine” was ready to form a new party.
On 5 November 2002, SNAP was deregistered and on the same day the application to register Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party was delivered to the ROS.
Three days later it was approved. Mawan was appointed the president of the new party. Others with him were appointed to key posts.
Although SNAP was given a stay of execution against the decision of the ROS, the party has been reduced to a mosquito party to the point of being irrelevant.
Now coming back to the SPDP crisis, it appears that what comes around goes around. Are we going to witness another SNAP in the making?
From interviews conducted by The Malaysian Mirror, that appears to be so.
Many branch leaders and members wanted actions to be taken against them and at the same time gave warning to PRS not to interfere with the internal affairs of the party.
“They can join PRS, but they should not be allowed to bring their seats with them. The seats belong to us,” the leaders said.
As political observers see it, split is unavoidable in SPDP even though Mawan is trying his best to seek a compromise.
The “SNAP situation” is staring them at their face. — The Malaysian Mirror
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March 6, 2010
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Posted by Zulhaidah
Categories: DAP, Malaysiakini, PAS, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO
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Tags: YB Zulkifli Noordin
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