William Mawan now ex-officio member of PBB supreme council
KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB) has officially appointed Pakan assemblyman Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom as its supreme council’s ex- officio member.
PBB secretary- general Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi said the appointment was made by virtue of Mawan being an elected representative.
Mawan became a PBB member when he was issued a membership card number 470000 during the tenure of the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem in 2016 who was chief minister and president of PBB then.
Nanta said PBB had to respect Adenan’s wish for Mawan to be in the party fold.
The official acceptance was made on Nov 3 this year at the PBB supreme council meeting which Mawan attended for the first time in his capacity as ex officio committee member.
In a simple ceremony, Chief Minister and PBB president Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg presented Mawan with a PBB batik uniform to symbolise the acceptance of Mawan as one of the party’s senior leaders at the PBB headquarters along Jalan Bako here.
Nanta said Mawan is now free to move around in Pakan as a PBB senior leader.
However, he could not say much about which party in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) would get to contest in the state constituency of Pakan as it was too early to talk about it.
Mawan won Pakan in the May 2016 state election as a Barisan Nasional ( BN) direct candidate after quitting Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras), in which he was the former president.
The BN direct candidacy was Sarawak BN’s solution for candidates who were not members of BN registered components.
Mawan joined Teras in 2015 after a fallout with the then Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party ( SPDP) leaders because of some political differences at that time.
Mawan is also a former Sarawak cabinet minister and former Saratok MP for one term.
He was, however, dropped by BN to contest the seat in the May 9 parliamentary election this year.