The latest move by the Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) to appoint renegade Meluan assemblyperson Wong Judat as party vice president, whose membership was anticipated to pave his way as a potential SWP candidate in the 13th general election, was expected, Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary Stephen Rundi said today.    

He said the state BN would fight SWP as 1BN if they stood against any BN candidates even though SWP president Larry Sng's repeated insistence that the recently formed party had always maintained its friendliness towards BN and its components except Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).

"As long as SWP is outside BN they are opposition (despite Larry's claims as being BN-friendly) and I believe they are out to confuse the voters," he told Bernama in Kuching.     

"I wish to reiterate here that no party shall doubt the BN spirit, understanding and sincerity in fighting the opposition in the coming polls," he said in response to the inclusion of Wong into SWP during its supreme council meeting here yesterday, which raised the question of whether he was in the party's list of candidates.       

Wong, whose resignation from the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), is at loggerheads with Julau Member of Parliament Datuk Joseph Salang and has expressed his intention to contest in Julau if the former were to be re-nominated by BN.      

Larry had also said SWP would contest against PRS in all of its six seats in the parliamentary polls.     

- Bernama