The Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) has warned the state government of serious consequences including havoc and confusion among the grassroots members and supporters of Barisan Nasional if the party’s recommendations of councillors for various district councils are undermined.

SPDP is particularly concerned that its recommendations of councillors to the Bau and Marudi district councils have allegedly been undermined by Tasik Biru assemblyperson Peter Nansian and Marudi assemblyperson Sylvester Entri as they had also submitted their own recommendations.

Expressing his concern, Marudi division SPDP chairperson Alexander Asing Sadai said: “If our recommendations are rejected, it would set a dangerous precedent which would potentially undermine the unity, comradeship and the spirit of cooperation within the coalition.

“It has come to our knowledge that the incumbent state assemblyperson for Marudi, Sylvester Entri, is interfering with the appointment of our councillors by submitting his own list of persons who are not SPDP members as councillors.

“Entri is taking away our quota, and by convention and tradition each BN component party is allocated a quota in respect of the number of councillors appointed to sit in the local councils,” he said in a statement emailed to Malaysiakini.

“Any other sources of proposed list of councillors must not be entertained except for if they are from recognised and legitimate non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“In view of the fact that those recommended by Entri are not members of any of the BN component parties, we strongly believe that they are not entitled to be appointed as councillors representing our 8,000 party members in Marudi.

“Besides, Marudi is SPDP’s seat. As such they have no locus standi to represent and to look after the interest of our party members in the constituency.  

“Therefore, we are seeking the state Local Government and Community Development Minister (Wong Soon Koh, left ) to take into accounts all these factors prior to finalising the list of councillors for the Marudi district council.

“In the event such a practice is allowed to happen, it would set a dangerous precedent which would potentially undermine the unity, comradeship and the spirit of cooperation within the coalition.

“It would also potentially create havoc and confusion amongst the grassroots members and   supporters of BN,” he said.

A clash in Bau, too

Meanwhile, SPDP is having some problems in Bau with its list of recommendations as it clashed with a list submitted by Nansian.

“Apart from the fact that the allocation is given to SPDP, the parliamentary constituencies of Mas Gading and Baram are in the hands of the party,” said a senior SPDP leader who did not wish to be identified.

Tasik Biru is part of the Mas Gading parliamentary constituency, while Marudi is part of the Baram parliamentary constituency, he said.

“The government must respect our recommendations otherwise there would be serious consequences that may affect the spirit of cooperation within the Barisan Nasional,” he said.

He said that like longhouse chiefs, village chiefs and community leaders and councillors in Sarawak are the ‘backbone’ of each of the component parties and their elected representatives.

He pointed out that Nansian and Entri both have no right to submit lists of their recommendations, even though they hold the posts of assistant ministers.

“They are partyless after they were expelled from SPDP in November 2011 and do not represent anybody or any party,” he said.

Meanwhile, the local government and community development minister said that the list of councillors to Sarawak’s 25 municipal and district councils is expected to be known by January 2014.

Starting from next year, the number of councillors in each council has been increased from 25 to 30 in order to get more young people to participate in the decision-process at local government level.