Numbers quitting SPDP exaggerated, says Balang
(The Borneo Post) – Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary general Datuk Nelson Balang Rining has rubbished a news report that more than 15,000 members quitting the party as ‘ridiculous’.
He pointed out that the 16 former divisional youth chiefs and 10 former divisional women chiefs, who had such claims, had made a simple generalisation that others in their respective divisions would follow them when the reality could be the opposite.
“It is a ridiculous claim. They just exaggerated the numbers,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Balang also believed that these former divisional youth chiefs and women chiefs were making such claims based on party documents which were still in their possession.
“This strengthened our suspicion that they still keep party documents despite already quitting the party,” he said.
It was reported yesterday that 15,263 members – 5,263 youth and 10,000 women – are quitting SPDP in order to join the newly formed Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras).
This was following a news conference on Sunday attended by the 16 former divisional youth chiefs, claiming to represent 5,263 members, and 10 divisional women chiefs, claiming to represent 10,000 members.
The 16 youth chiefs were from SPDP divisions of Opar, Tasik Biru, Tupong, Samariang, Pending, Batu Lintang, Bengoh, Tarat, Tebedu, Kedup, Simanggang, Kalaka, Krian, Pakan, Piasau and Pujut.
As for the women, they were from the 10 divisions in the southern region namely Pending, Batu Lintang, Satok, Muara Tuang, Bengoh, Tarat, Opar, Tanjung Datu, Kedup and Tebedu.
Former SPDP Youth secretary Khairuddin Abdul Kadir and former SPDP Women secretary Olivia Chan, said they made the decision because they wanted to join their former party president Tan Sri William Mawan in Teras.
Despite the departure of Mawan, Balang said SPDP is still functioning normally and gets on with daily business as usual.
He also revealed the party will hold its supreme council meeting this Friday (May 23) in Bintulu to discuss current matters affecting SPDP.
