Mawan: SPDP stance on merger unchanged

KUCHING: President of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom declined to comment of the proposed merger with Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) with the latest statement from PRS President Datuk Seri Dr James Masing.

“I can’t comment on the issue now otherwise the members will get confused,” Mawan told the Eastern Times here yesterday. However, he assured that SPDP’s stance on the merger remains unchanged.

Masing had said in Miri over the weekend that the proposed merger of Sarawak’s two largest Dayak political parties had met with a hostile reception from many grassroots members of both parties. Masing added that the unhappiness among the Dayaks, who comprise 1.5 million of the state’s 2.3 million population was caused by misunderstanding among grassroots members of the two parties, and the merger would not work unless the issues of discontent were resolved.

Masing : Grassroots must accept the meger for the sake of Dayak

“Grassroots members of the two parties must accept the merger or else it cannot work. It is not enough for the leaders of the two parties to agree to the merger. A merger sealed only by the top leaders cannot last. Because of this, PRS will approach the merger plan with caution. But we will not put a time table to it. We want the grounds (party divisions) to meet first (at their annual general meeting) and express their opinion on the merger. Once we have that, then it goes up,” said Masing.

The merger between PRS and SPDP had been discussed since the last state election in 2006 and the idea had recently been welcomed by the State Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud as a move to strengthen the coalition.

Masing led PRS after its registration on Oct 21, 2004, a day after a trouble-ridden Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was deregistered. The then new party was admitted into the BN coalition on June 20 the following year. SPDP, meanwhile was registered on Nov 8, 2002.