KUCHING: The quarrel in SPDP has taken a turn for the worse after five of its elected representatives declared that they had lost faith and confidence in their president Tan Sri William Mawan.
“This is World War III,” said Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri Muran, in capping off a press conference here yesterday with the five representatives dubbed the SPDP 5.
Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Peter Nansian, who is the SPDP senior vice-president, said earlier that they had lost faith and confidence in Mawan.
He said their president had failed to resolve the internal conflict amicably and peacefully, maintain the party’s unity and protect the Barisan Nasional’s interest.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back and forced us to make this decision is that if the president seriously wanted to resolve the current conflict, a reconciliation or unity committee should have been formed rather than the disciplinary committee to take action against us, which we feel is very unfair and done solely to chop us off,” said Nansian, who appeared to be the group’s main spokesman.
The other elected representatives invol- ved are Bekenu assemblyman Rosey Yunus, Batu Danau assemblyman Paulus Palu Gumbang and Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe, all supreme council members of the party.
Sylvester, Nansian and Rosey are also assistant ministers.
Mawan and the remaining SPDP supreme council members had on Sept 13 referred the five to the party’s disciplinary com- mittee after they failed to attend the council’s meetings since a walkout about two years ago.
The walkout happened when Mawan decided not to reappoint Sylvester as the party’s secretary-general without first consulting the council.
A show-cause letter was issued to Sylvester, which he has not replied. Although the rest of the group did not receive show-cause letters, they decided to stick together.
“Our stand today is our reply to the show-cause letter,” said Nansian. He said they no longer cared what action the committee would take against them, and that they would on their own find the “best solution” to ensure that they could continue to serve the people as well as the Barisan.
Asked if the best solution was for Mawan to step down, he retorted: “We never said that.”
He refused to divulge what their plans or options were should they be expelled from the party.
He also denied that they had informed or sought advice from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on their move.
“We will cross the bridge when we come to it. Our interest is below that of the Barisan,” said Nansian, when pressed for an answer as to what they could do.
He pointed out that the group had met Mawan formally at least three times over the last two years to seek reconciliation.
According to him, they had agreed on many points to iron out their differences, but Mawan had not implemented them.
“While we urged him to run the party with principles, consistency, fairness and sincerity to maintain party unity and stability, we were labelled as the Rebel 5 and Group of 5. So, who started the friction and faction in the party?” he asked.
credit to sarawakstar@thestar
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