A group of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) members expressed concern over what they described as the silent stand taken by the leadership on the party's future in the wake of the recent state election.

NONE The party lost two important seats, namely Ba'Kelalan and Krian, while their president William Mawan Ikom ( left ) won with a lesser majority in Pakan.

In a statement e-mailed to Bernama following a meeting in Kuching yesterday, the group said unlike other parties, be they BN component parties or opposition parties, the SPDP had not commented on its performance in the election last month.

"The silence is deafening. The loss of two important seats, in Ba' Kelalan and Krian, is of great concern. The president was very nearly an election casualty himself," they said in the statement.

The meeting was attended by the state assemblypersons Paulus Gumbang of Batu Danau, Peter Nansian Ngusie (Tasik Biru), Sylvester Entri Muran (Marudi), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) and several members of the party's central executive committee.

The group said they accepted that placing a newcomer, Willie Liau, could have been one of the reasons for the party's loss in Ba' Kelalan, which was won by PKR strongman Baru Bian.

However, they said, the same could not be said of the loss in Krian, where the party's deputy president Peter Nyarok lost to a lesser known PKR candidate Ali Biju by 2,090 votes.

The group also described as "ironic" that Paulus, Nansian, Entri and Rosey, who were among those in the group dubbed the 'Rebel 5' had maintained comfortable majorities, each of them winning by over 2,000 votes.

The four, together with Mas Gading MP Tiki Lafe in the Rebel 5 group, were at loggerheads with Mawan over certain appointments in the party but had agreed to patch up ahead of the election.

- Bernama