KUCHING: Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Peter Nansian yesterday refuted claims that the five elected representatives of Sarawak Progressive Development Party (SPDP) who had voiced out dissatisfaction over some decisions the party made was trying to topple the party leadership.
Nansian – one of the group dubbed the SPDP 5 – explained that their recent questioning of the president’s silence after April 16 state polls was made out of concern for the party.
“We just ask what they are doing,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Nansian, who is also SPDP senior vice president, was asked to respond to Chinese media reports which quoted SPDP treasurer-general Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing as saying that the SPDP 5 wanted to sabotage the party leadership.
Asked if he was surprised by Tiong’s outburst, Nansian refused to comment. “Just let them say what they want to say,” he said.
Tiong who is also Bintulu MP, at a press conference in Kuching last Sunday, had also said the SPDP 5 were out to create disharmony within the party.
This was in response to press reports on May 26 which among others stated the SPDP 5 as saying they were puzzled by the continued silence of their leader because all other parties including the opposition had commented on their respective performance and some even talk about their future plans.
The group met in Kuching a day earlier to review the performance of the party in the election and to share their postmortem findings, before coming out with a statement with strong words on the leadership.
“Almost six weeks have passed by since the April state election … The silence is deafening,” they had said in the statement.
SPDP lost two of its eight seats in the election. The biggest casualty was deputy president Datuk Peter Nyarok, who failed to defend Krian after losing to PKR newcomer Ali Biju by over 2,000 votes.
The other seat lost was Ba Kelalan after SPDP new face Willie Liau lost to PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian.
Ironically, the four state assemblymen in the SPDP 5 including Nansian won by big margins. The others are Marudi assemblyman Sylvester Entrie Muran, Paulus Palu Ngumbang (Batu Danau) and Rosey Yunus (Bekenu), while the fifth member is Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe.
Meanwhile, SPDP president Dato Sri William Mawan was quoted in yesterday’s press reports as saying the party would conduct a thorough postmortem on its election performance after its supreme council meeting next month.
He had called for the cooperation of all party candidates who contested in the election to provide feedback and suggestions
sumber:borneopost
