Party members are hoping that SPDP president William Mawan Ikom won’t repeat his April 16 mistakes by replacing worthy incumbents with new faces just for the ‘sake of change’.
KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party’s (SPDP) internal strife has not ended and it appears that president William Mawan Ikom is now sharpening his blades for that final cut.
Mawan’s bid to field fresh faces for parliamentary seats in the 13th general election is seen as a move to slice off dissenting voices.
He seems to be particularly focused on getting rid of Dr Tiki Lafe, who is the MP for Mas Gading .
Lafe is among the infamous ‘SPDP 5’ members who stormed out of a meeting last January following Mawan’s decision to appoint a new secretary-general to the party.
A Lafe supporter, who refused to be identified, accused Mawan of not learning his lesson from the Ba’ Kelalan and Krian debacles.
“Mawan should have learned his lesson by now. He must listen to the voice of the people on the ground.
“We don’t want a repeat of Ba’Kelalan and Krian in Mas Gading,” said the supporter.
Both seats were formerly held by SPDP. In the April 16 state election SPDP lost these seats to opposition PKR.
SPDP lost the Ba’Kelalan and Krian seats to PKR’s Baru Bian and Ali Biju respectively just because Mawan did not listen to the grassroots members.
In Ba’Kelalan, Mawan fielded a new face Willie Liau to replace the incumbent Nelson Balang Rining who was still popular.
In Krian he re-nominated his deputy Peter Nyarok against the wishes of the people.
Nyarok, who had already served the constituency for the third term, had been accused of being arrogant and had failed to fulfil his election promises.
“In the end, the party lost two of its strongholds. The president’s statement has made us unhappy and angry,” he said with reference to Mawan’s statement on Sunday.
New faces
On Sunday Mawan had reportedly said that he might field a new face in Mas Gading to replace Lafe.
He said he had identified William Jinep as a potential candidate. Jinep is a businessman.
He also said he was ready to replace incumbents Jelaing Mersat in Saratok, Tiong King Sing in Bintulu and Jacob Sagan in Baram.
Of the four MPs, Jelaing has openly said that he will not defend his seat.
“We are ready to spring surprises with new faces.
“However, we are still scouting for winnable candidates to ensure that the four seats allocated to us will be retained in the general election,” said Mawan, when he visited Kampung Apar in Lafe’s constituency.
Meanwhile, Lafe in response to Mawan has warned that the incumbents should not be changed for the sake of changing.
He said changes should be initiated only after a thorough on-ground assessment is made taking into consideration the voice of the grassroots supporters.
“The decision to drop or retain the incumbents should be best left to the grassroots.
“Even if I am asked to go now I am more than willing.
“But the biggest and most pertinent issue is whether the new face can help us secure the seat or not.
“This is the most important. Of course the president has every right to make his decision but naturally he will look at all aspects before passing any verdict,” Lafe said.
Stubborn Lafe
Meanwhile a SPDP supreme council member George Garai felt that Mawan’s statement was directed at Lafe.
“It is warning to him,” said Garai who was among the eight SPDP Supreme Council members who walked out of the January 2010 meeting in protest against Mawan’s decision to replace Sylvester Enteri as secretary-general.
Lafe, who is senior vice-president was one of the eight.
The others were Enteri, who is the state assemblyman for Marudi, Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu), Paulus Gumbang (Batu Danau), Peter Gani and Ida Egar (both members of the supreme council).
The four assemblyman apologized to Mawan for their ‘mistakes’ on the eve of the April 16 state election in order to be nominated to defend their seats.
But Lafe has not done so until today. In fact his relationship with the president is far from good.
According to SPDP office records, Lafe has not attended any of the party’s supreme council meetings or functions for nearly two years.
Lafe and the four state legislators, popularly known as the ‘SPDP 5’, have been a thorn in Mawan’s side.
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