180 EX-PKR members apply to join SPDP
KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party ( SPDP) yesterdayreceived 180membership applications from former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) grassroots members.
According to SPDP secretarygeneral Datuk Nelson Balang Rining, there were 65 of such membership applications two weeks ago.
He said ex-PKR members now wanted to cooperate with the Barisan Nasional ( BN) through SPDP to secure a comfortable victory in Saratok in the impending general election.
Balang said another batch of membership applications from Saratok would be submitted to party president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom and senior vice president Datuk Jacob Sagan during the SPDP Unity dinner in Miri this coming Sunday.
However, he does not know the exact number of applications in this batch.
“They ( PKR Saratok defectors)
They (PKR Saratok defectors) now realise that only the BN can deliver the goods in rural areas while PKR has no proof of delivery. Datuk Nelson Balang Rining, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general
now realise that only the BN can deliver the goods in rural areas while PKR has no proof of delivery. So, they want to cooperate with BN this time around,” he told a press conference at party headquarters here yesterday.
“The handing over of the 180 applications today is a follow up to the first batch of 65 applications received about two weeks ago. They (grassroots members) are from areas in which BN lost badly in the last state election. These areas are Kabong and Paloh.”
When asked how they proved they were PKR members, one of the defectors Yusof Mashen said they could not prove it using documents.
He claimed they were initially requested by PKR Krian assemblyman Ali Biju to set up a branch in Kabong, Saratok.
After setting up the branch, they assumed that all the required processes in setting up the branch were done by PKR.
They, therefore, assumed they were members by virtue of setting up the branch and a committee of office bearers, he said, in countering an allegation by state PKR that the defection two weeks ago was staged to disparage PKR in view of the coming polls.
Another proof that they were ex-PKR members was that state PKR leaders Datuk Habsah Harun and Wan Zainal Wan Sanusi had requested them to return to the PKR fold or to at least reconsider their action, said Yusuf, who then declared that he was the former protem secretary of PKR Kabong.
He believed the list of branch committee members had been disposed of by PKR as they were no longer useful to the party.
Yesterday, it was Ismail Hussin who once again led the PKR defectors to SPDP headquarters. He was also the one who submitted the first batch of membership applications to Mawan two weeks ago.
Ismail is no ordinary person. Apart from being a former teacher, he was also the independent candidate who garnered more than 1,665 votes but lost to the BN candidate in Kalaka, Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz ( 6,835 votes), in the last state election.
Also present at the press conference yesterday were SPDP vice president Capt Zainuddin Tan Sri Hamdan, political secretary to the Chief Minister Kijan Toynbee, who is also a supreme council member, supreme council members Ali Udin and Maslinda Hamidon, SPDP Pending chairman Athanasius Chua, and vice chairperson Cilla Bala.