BEHIND SPDP AND PRS PROPOSED MERGER

Kuching
Thursday, 25th February 2010

James Masing and the Group of  Five 5 SPDP assemblymen  started Another Crisis In dayak Majority Parties!...Merger Will not happen Without William Mawan

Introduction

Dayak with it total population of about 1, 178,750 or 50% of Sarawak total population , is the biggest group in Sarawak.

Politically they are represented by all the parties in Sarawak, by the governing parties and as well as the opposition. In the governing parties , they are represented by the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) or Sarawak People Party, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), Sarawak United People Party (SUPP) and Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB). Whereas in the opposition they are represent by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Sarawak National party (SNAP) and the latest by Democratic Action Party (DAP).

What is Democracy and Why dayak Still marginalised

“Our constitution is named a democracy, because it is in the hands not of the few but of the many. But our laws secure equal justice for all in their private disputes and our public opinion welcomes and honours talent in every branch of achievement …on the ground of excellent alone…our citizen attend both to public and private duties and do not allow absorption in their various affairs to interfere with their knowledge of the city’s we decide or debate, carefully and in person of matters of policy holding…that acts are foredoomed to failure when undertaken discussed”...Pericles definition of democracy in Athens

Democracy is a form of government in which the policy is decided by the preference of the majority in a decision-making process, usually elections. Democracy as a form of government always has the following characteristics:

• There is a demos, a group which makes political decisions by some form of collective procedure. In modern democracies the demos is the nation, and citizenship is usually equivalent to membership.

• There is a territory where the decisions apply, and where the demos are resident. In modern democracies, the territory is the nation-state.

• There is a decision-making procedure, which is either direct (for instance a referendum) or indirect (for instance election of a parliament).

Based on the definition of the democracy above, the majority should rule. But why the dayak, despite being the majority they cannot rule? Dayak as I said earlier are representing by all of the political parties. Out of these so many political parties they are only majority in PRS and SPDP. This situation has caused their strength diluted.

SPDP Crisis and the Proposed Merger With PRS

The crisis in SPDP started on 22nd January 2010 when it President William Mawan Ikom replaced Sylvester Entri with Wilson Balang as SPDP secretary general. Mawan reasoned to replace Sylvester was to strengthen the party especially in the northern region of Sarawak.

But the group align to Sylvester Entri said that they walked out in protest over the appointment of Balang as the new secretary-general and Paul Igai, political secretary to the chief minister as his deputy. They believed that Sylvester Enteri was replaced as the secretary-general after he was alleged to have supported Philip Ngo in challenging the incumbent deputy president Peter Nyarok in the party elections last month.

On 21st February 2010, the group align to Sylvester Entri made a press statement that they will merge with PRS.

Conclusions

No matter what they called it, they were actually splitting from SPDP. The merger without the approval of both party Presidents will not going to happen. If merger between the two parties materialised, James Masing at this moment has an advantages over William Mawan as the new entity president. But will William Mawan accept the deputy president post. Judging from the dayak political history (take PBDS as an example) William Mawan would not accept James Masing as a President. So toward the end….Merger between SPDP and PRS will not going to happen and these 5 selfish representatives will be partiless.

This crisis will definitely weaken BN in the coming state election. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must take this opportunity to wrest power from BN.

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Confirmed Group Align to Sylvester Entri Joins PRS

KUCHING
Sunday, 21st February 2010

Najib visit to Sarawak has been welcomed with a political split in the BN when a members of SPDP aligned to Sylvester Entri announced today that it will merge with PRS, another dayak majority party.

The state assemblyman for Marudi and former Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general Sylvester Enteri led his group of five other elected representatives to formally announce their merger with Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).

The announcement was made at a press conference yesterday evening to coincide with the visit of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to Sarawak.

Members of the group are Tasik Biru state rep and Assistant Minister for Environment Peter Nansian, Batu Danau state rep Paulus Gumbang, Bekenu state assemblywoman Rosey Yunus and Mas Gading MP Dr Tiki Lafe and three other ex-SPDP supreme council members – George Garai, Peter Gani and Eda Egar.

Wong Judat joining the group

They were present at the press conference.

Enteri said that Wong Judat, the state assemblyman for Meluan has informed him that he would join his group.

Enteri said that his group wanted the merger with PRS to be formalised as soon as possible in order to further strengthen Barisan National especially in the rural-based constituencies as well as in the broader interest of the Dayak community.

He said SPDP president William Mawan took too long to make a decision to merge with PRS since the idea was mooted by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud five years ago.

"My group is taking the first step to merge with PRS and we want it to be formalised immediately," he said.

Last month, they walked out from SPDP's supreme council meeting when Mawan announced the appointment of Nelson Balang Rining, Ba'Kelalan state rep, replacing Enteri.

Enteri and other leaders who were also founding fathers of the seven-year old SPDP were unhappy with Mawan's decision as they charged that the president did not honour his promise of maintaining a status quo in party elections last December.

PRS now second biggest

Their merger with PRS today confirmed the story on Feb 18 and it has effectively enlarge the growing support for PRS which now nine state assemblymen and six MPs.

The entry of Enteri's group brings the number of PRS' state legislators to 14 and members of Parliament to seven, while SPDP led by William Mawan, state Social Development and Urbanisation Minister has its state elected representatives reduced to three – Mawan himself, Nelson and Krian state rep Peter Nyarok.

PRS can now claim to be the second largest BN component party in Sarawak after Abdul Taib's PBB.

Meanwhile, PRS President James Masing said that what Enteri and his group did was just fulfilling the wish and dream of SPDP and PRS leaders and members to merge.

"Such a move will consolidate rural-based constituencies and strengthen Barisan Nasional. PRS accepts their move to merge and I laud their courage to take the risk for the good of the rural populace.

"With Enteri and group, PRS has no problem in merging," Masing assured.

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