Monday, May 9, 2011

SNAP leaders must resign

Joseph Tawie | May 8, 2011

Beleagured SNAP's 'pullout' from Pakatan is 'immaterial' as its current leadership has 'lost all credibility', said a former top party offical.

KUCHING: A former Sarawak National Party (SNAP) vice-president has demanded that the party’s entire Central Working Committee including its president Edwin Dungan resign en bloc and take responsibility for the April 16 polls fiasco.

Declining to reveal his name, the former Sarawak Assistant Minister said: “They know who I am … they should all resign.

“They should be courageous enough to claim responsibility for the dismal performances of their candidates who all except one lost their deposits,” he said adding that it was irrelevant whether the party remained in Pakatan Rakyat or not.

The former Julau assemblyman described SNAP’s ties with Pakatan as ‘immaterial’ as party had ‘lost its credibility.’

“Whether SNAP is out of the Pakatan Rakyat or not is immaterial.

“The most important thing is for the CWC members – from the president downward – to resign and elect new committee members in order to bring credibility and integrity to the party.”

He was commenting on reports quoting SNAP secretary-general Stanley Jugol who on Friday said the party had severed its ties with Pakatan.

Jugol was quoted as saying that the 50-year-old SNAP had decided to quit Pakatan after it was sidelined following disagreements on seat allocation.

“We are no longer in Pakatan. We are now on our own,” he had said adding that it was meaningless for the party to remain in the coalition as it was no longer invited to attend any functions or meetings organised by the opposition alliance.

No credibility

Speaking to FMT yesterday, the former SNAP vice president said: “SNAP has lost its credibility and cannot claim itself to represent the Dayaks anymore.

“The recent state election clearly showed that the Dayaks have rejected the party especially under the current leadership.

“SNAP cannot rely on history and its past glory to win back the Dayaks’ support for the party, especially the young Dayaks who do not know even who SNAP’s Stephen Kalong Ningkan was.

“These young people cannot be bothered with past history as they are more interested with what the party can offer them in the future,” he said.

In 1974 SNAP won 18 state seats and nine parliamentary seats in the Dayak majority constituencies. Its leader, Ningkan was made Sarawak’s first chief minister. But their immaculate pedigree was of little use in last month’s polls.

Going into the election SNAP was already at loggerheads with PKR over seat allocation.

Refusing to compromise SNAP went ahead and contested in 27 Dayak majority constituencies with Dundang boastfully declaring they had the support of Dayaks.

In the end 26 candidates including Dundang lost their deposits. (NYAU CENGKERAM!!!)

Personal opinion

Meanwhile, Jugol today clarified his Friday statement.

He said it was his personal opinion that SNAP should pull out of Pakatan.

“The CWC members have not met to discuss the issue (pulling out), but I believe it is the general feelings of the CWC members as well as members of the party that it should leave the Pakatan Rakyat.

“What appeared in the local press that the party has severed its ties with the Pakatan Rakyat was my personal opinion,” he added.

Meawnhile Sarawak PKR information chief See Chee How when contacted said that it was not surprising that SNAP pulled out of Pakatan considering what its leaders did and acted before the state election.

He said SNAP had some good grassroots members, whom he thought would be good SNAP leaders in the future.

“But now some of them have started to join PKR… now they realised that the party is only an empty vehicle which is not able to serve the interests of the party and members of the Dayak community,” he said.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

PKR also lost its deposit,the number of its elected candidates was less than 12 percent of the total number of candidate.Vernon Klentit,Ibi and Datuk John Tenewi are just dogs,came for a meeting but has no decision making power.Pooorah,why want to come in the first place,or why not they just inform DAP that they are USELESS sent by PKR to study politics from DAP? Buat malu aku saja.Even had only won 3 seats PKR had shown its true colours smack of ignorance,arrogance,incompetence and quarrelsome.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, why comparing with PKR?

Anonymous said...

Hebat hujah hujah bernas, bijaksana dan munasabah penyokong SNAP di atas. Hebat sungguh!! (Tapi mengapa SNAP kalah jugak, kalah teruk lagi tu??)

Anonymous said...

Why comparing it to PKR? Well,its because PKR are supposed to be super strong,only wanted to give SNAP 3 or 4 seats to contest.If PKR are super strong,then why only won 3? Kenapa SNAP kalah teruk? Well,many factors here bro.Firstly,Snap was still weak after a long layoff and secondly,issues and allegations against Snap,in particular those made by Francis Sial and PKR were not addressed adequately by Snap.But,whether kalah teruk or otherwise is a normal thing to happen in politics; like other game,political power play will involve meticulous calculation and judgment,you chose the wrong one,that's it.But,as in other game,Snap too can make a comeback.In politics,nothing is fixed neither perfect.

Anonymous said...

Kalau sudah kalah (kalah teruk amai), stand aside and resign lah. Bagi orang lain (yang muda) lead the party. This is normal in politics, esp in western countries. gentleman politics. This is the point of this article. Dun changing the subject.

Tapi saya tetak sepuluh jari kalau Dundang resign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Bro anonymous,don't bet on your 10 fingers,you will become "kudung" definitely,Dundang will resign,better save your fingers.

Anonymous said...

One major difference btw SNAP and PKR is that SNAP was funded by BN dirty $$$$ to split PKR's votes or opposition votes, whereas PKR is truely fighting against BN and knowingly SNAP is not getting any support.

PKR won 3 seats whereas SNAP's candidates lost all their deposits except for Tedong.

Anonymous said...

Another major difference between PKR and SNAP is SNAP did not have the money from BN as alledged by PKR and Francis Sial and PKR was fighting with tons of'sinless' money,yet only got 3.Snap lost 26 but PKR lost 46.NOT much difference any way.