Mawan: I have no problem with Nansian’s initiative

File pix: 9th Nov, 2009. Kg. Lusut, Miri

KUCHING: The President of SPDP has commented on the effort of “the disgrunted five” to speed up the merger as “good”, but he advised that it should have been done in accordance with the regulations and “order of things” within the party.

“It is a good initiative, a good effort, but I hope they can bring it up to the Supreme Council meeting on Feb 28, and report on any progress that they might have made,” Mawan told the reporters at Wisma Bapa Malaysia after the State Cabinet meeting yesterday.

SPDP Senior Vice-President, Datuk Peter Nansian, had recently told a press conference in Kuching that he saw no reason why the proposed merger between SPDP and PRS, which was mooted some five years ago, should be delayed. Also present at that press conference were Vice-Presidents Sylvester Entri (Marudi Assemblyman) and Datuk Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading MP), Paulus Palu Gumbang (Batu Danau Assemblyman), Rosey bte Haji Yunus (Bekenu Assemblywoman), Cr Eda Igar, and Supreme Council members George Garai and Peter Gani. Wong Judat (Meluan Assemblyman), another committee member, was not present.

Mawan also stressed that being an open-minded person, during the coming Supreme Council meeting, he would discuss what had since transpired with the so-called ‘group of five’ pushing for immediate merger with Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).

“I guess that is just to regularize certain things.  I think we have to follow the order of things because we have the committee (the merger committee headed by Datuk Peter Nyalok).  I have always been for the merger.  If you read my statement last December, I was talking about it.  And I am also grateful to PRS for their sudden explosion of interest of the whole thing,” said Mawan.

He described the merger effort of the five as “individual effort” and clearly stated that he would not “condemn this sort of thing”.

“You met something, you stumble upon something, later on you report and we can share the glory and the success of it, what is wrong with that?  I don’t want to see ghosts behind every shadow.  They are my friends and my YBs (chosen representatives).  Whatever feeling they might have had, whatever perception or interpretation that people might have had, I don’t see it that way,” Mawan pointed out.

However, he warned that as they were all highly charged individuals and politicians, they should be careful to avoid making statements such as to imply that “he (Mawan) was being controlled by someone”. He termed such statements as “punching below the belt”.

Source: Eastern Times

Can the five SPDP YBs make it back to Kuching from Kapit on Sunday, in time to report the recent merger (individual) initiatives, during the SPDP Supreme Council meeting?