Mutiny in Mas Gading?

Mas Gading is turning into a headache for Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president William Mawan.

KUCHING: SPDP could very well be facing a rebellion within the Mas Gading parliamentary constituency if it persists on fielding Anthony Nogeh Gumbek in the May 5 parliamentary polls.

Speculations are rife that the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) division here may go the way of Krian and Saratok divisions which on Wednesday night passed a no-confidence vote against party president William Mawan over his candidacy in Saratok.

The four-point resolution had among others said that the members no longer trusted Mawan and that he had unilaterally nominated himself and pushed through the decision “without full and proper consultation”.

A whisper campaign to hold back support for Nogeh is already underway among the “silent majority”.

The predominantly Bidayuh constituency wants the incumbent Dr Tiki Lafe to defend his seat.

Tiki won the seat on a SPDP ticket in the 2008 general election. He won the seat by a 4,301 votes majority in a four-cornered fight against Dr Patau Rubis from SNAP and Independent candidates Fabian Tissen and Apin Baeng.

However on 2011, he together with four other state assemblymen – Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru), Sylvester Entri (Marudi), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) and Paulus Gumbang (Batu Danau) – were sacked from the party for insubordination.

Since then the infamous ‘SPDP 5′ have been partyless but BN-friendly. Their attempts to register a BN Club has been futile.

However a window of opportunity came open recently when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said that BN would consider accepting ‘direct’ BN-friendy candidates and groups.

Strong support for Tiki

The fact that Najib had not picked Tiki to defend his seat as a “direct” candidate has “shocked and surprised” locals, said a former SPDP Tasik Biru branch secretary Nicholas Kudang Garia.

In a statement issued here, he said SPDP’s strength in Mas Gading had been severely undermined following the sacking of Tiki and Nansian.

But Tiki, according to Kudang, still had strong ground support and it was a shame that he was not fielded due to internal politicking.

In February this year Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) Mas Gading chairman John Nyigor had issued a stern warning against the renomination of Tiki.

Nyigor said BN would be making a “big mistake” if it did so.

He reportedly claimed that Tiki had “never been able to consolidate his grassroots” and that his popularity at the polls had progressively dropped.

“In 1999 Dr Tiki garnered 10,684 votes. This dropped to 10,579 in 2004 and 8,557 in 2008; while his closest contender Dr Patau Rubis of STAR garnered 6,664 votes in 1999, 7,867 in 2004 and 4,250 in 2008,” he said.

But Kudang said otherwise, and instead urged Tiki to defend his seat as an Independent candidate.

“We hope Tiki will be bold enough to take up our challenge and stand as an Independent candidate.

“The silent majority will all rally for him to ensure that he continues to be their MP for at least another term,” said Kudang in a statement here.

He further added that SPDP in Mas Gading was no longer as strong as it was two or three years back and that claims of the party having a strong presence in the constituency was “nonsense”.

“I am told the party can’t even get a quorum to form a branch in Opar,” he said.

Opar is one of two state seats under the Mas Gading parliamentary constituency. The other is Tasik Biru.