Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tengku Adnan to sort issues with Sarawak parties

SATURDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2010 11:28

JULAU: Barisan Nasional secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor will meet former Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general Sylvester Entri Muran and others today in a move to try and resolve the hiccup in the party.

Tengku Adnan, who was despatched to Kuching apparently to work behind the scenes to quickly mediate a settlement, will also be meeting Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Datuk Seri James Masing.

The problem in SPDP arose after its recent triennial general assembly when president Datuk Seri William Mawan Ikom appointed Nelson Balang, who is Ba Kelalan state assemblyman, to replace Entri as the new secretary-general.

This did not go down well with Entri and four others – senior vice-president Datuk Peter Nansian, information chief Paulus Palu Gumbang (state assemblyman for Batu Danau), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) and Dr Tiki Lafe (MP for Mas Gading). Three supreme council members Peter Gani, George Garai and Eda Egar had also reportedly thrown their weight behind Entri.

They then decided to merge immediately on their own with PRS without going through Peter Nyarok, who is the SPDP chairman of the proposed merger committee.

SPDP supreme council member Paul Igai confirmed that Tengku Adnan was helping to resolve the hiccup in his party.

"He may most probably be attending our supreme council meeting this Sunday (tomorrow)," he said

Adnan had recently met with Mawan, deputy president Datuk Peter Nyarok, secretary-general Nelson Balang Rining and treasurer-general and Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

A PRS leader, who refused to be identified, is delighted with the move by the group to register with PRS, saying it would only strengthen their pool of elected representatives, and reportedly open the way for the merger of Dayak-based parties. PRS currently has nine state assemblymen and six MPs.

Political observers, however, see the crisis has yet another of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud's strategies to stay in power.

One observer had reportedly said: "He creates the unrest to show the federal BN leaders that without him BN in Sarawak will disintegrate."

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