KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) has already lined up its candidate to stand in Marudi state seat, which the party won in the last election in 2011.
In a statement released yesterday, SPDP president Dato’ Seri Tiong King Sing said he was taken aback by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s declaration at a Hari Raya gathering at Marudi Civic Centre on Thursday that Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri was the most winnable candidate for that seat in the next state election.
“We are disappointed that the chief minister did not consult our party on who we have chosen to defend Marudi, which Datuk Sylvester won in the last election as a SPDP candidate, before making the statement,” he said.
Tiong revealed that the candidate SPDP had identified for Marudi was even more winnable than Entri as he is a local, currently holds a very senior post in the public sector, and has been in touch with the people in the area for years.
“We must not overlook the fact that it was through the efforts of SPDP and the backing of the Barisan Nasional (BN) that the incumbent (Sylvester) managed to retain the seat in the last state election and not by himself as an individual candidate,” Tiong said.
He added that with similar backing, the candidate SPDP had chosen to stand in Marudi would win handsomely in the next election.
The supreme council and all members of SPDP had made their stand clear that the party would not give up any of its allocated under the BN agreement, especially to any party outside BN, Tiong stressed.
“Forcing us to accept any decision detrimental to our party would break up the BN spirit and understanding.
“The strength of BN rests on its unity and cooperation among its component parties. It would be disastrous to disrupt the present harmonious situation within the coalition just to accommodate a former BN component party member who has left the coalition at the expense of a component party that has been a loyal member.”
However, the SPDP president reiterated that the party’s differing views on candidacy of its allocated seats was not a challenge to the leadership of Adenan and his roles as chairman of the state BN and chief minister of Sarawak.
“From the first day he took office as chief minister, SPDP has stood firmly behind Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem and supported his noble efforts to fight corruption.” Tiong hoped Adenan would reciprocate SPDP’s loyalty by respecting its stand on Party Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) and on the BN Plus arrangement.
“It is obvious that accommodating Teras in BN and adopting the BN Plus formula will hurt SPDP grievously; therefore, nobody should expect us to agree to such decisions.”
He felt that there was no need to bring Teras into BN because instead of being seriously weakened when some of its leaders left to form Teras, SPDP had gone from strength to strength and is not facing any problem fielding winnable candidates for any of its eight allocated seats.
“Our membership has increased. We are now stronger and united, not like before, when our party was torn up by different factions.”-Borneo Post
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