Wong Judat quits SPDP to join SWP, SPDP left with 1 ADUN

Wong Judat quits SPDP

by Samuel Aubrey, reporters@theborneopost.com. Borneo Post July 23, 2012, Monday

Meluan rep set to leave SPDP to stand against Salang in Julau

KANOWIT: After months of speculations, Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat finally announced his decision to quit Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) to join Sarawak Workers Party (SWP).

Wong Judat

Speaking to the media after a SWP ‘Pentas Rakyat’ function in Kanowit town centre Saturday night, he said he would officially quit SPDP on July 31 to pave the way for him to contest in Julau against the incumbent MP Datuk Joseph Salang from BN component party Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) in the coming election.

“On July 30, I will be meeting party president Tan Sri William Mawan and his deputy Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing in Kuala Lumpur to explain my move to them, and I will resign from the party the next day. The outcome of the meeting will have no bearing on my decision. Nothing can change my mind and nobody can stop me,” he said.

Judat’s announcement did not come as a surprise as he had already declared that he would stand against Salang if the incumbent MP was re-nominated to defend his seat in the next election and the only way for him to do so is to quit SPDP, a BN component party.

“I will contest in Julau under SWP if Salang is re-nominated to defend the seat.”

On whether he might regret his decision and that he might lose  all the benefits that come with being a BN assemblyman, he said: “What benefit? To me? I don’t do this for self gain. I am 48 years old now, not a 17 year old kid. I am a matured man, so there’s no such thing as regret. “

On whether he was unhappy with SPDP he said, “I am not against SPDP or any other BN component party. SWP and I support the state and federal leadership fully. We are BN friendly and vice versa, we are only against PRS.”

When told that his decision to leave SPDP would leave Mawan as the sole state assemblyman in the party, he quipped: “Well if he feels lonely there, he can always join me in SWP. But I must say here that Tan Sri (Mawan) and Datuk Seri (Tiong) and the rest of the party members have been very kind to me and since SWP is friendly to SPDP, we are still and will always be friends.”

CROWD PULLER: A section of the crowd who thronged the town centre to watch the Pentas Rakyat.

FOR CHARITY: Larry (second left) handing over SWP’s donation to a caretaker of Chinese temple in Kanowit.

Judat is a three-term Meluan assemblyman. He won the seat as an independent candidate in 2001 and joined SPDP in 2003. He is now a SPDP vice president.

SWP president Larry Sng, who also spoke to the media, said he welcomed Judat’s move, saying that the new party would soon have two elected representatives. The other state assemblyman is George Lagong from Pelagus.

“Whoever who wants to be friendly with us, we welcome him or her.”

He also said that the party would come up with its own manifesto for the parliamentary election and would only field winnable candidates.

“After the candidates won the election, he or she will work very hard for the next five years. We only uphold rakyat politics and not towkay politics,” Sng claimed.

Earlier in his speech at the Pentas Rakyat, Judat said called on the people to support the BN policies saying that the only problem in Julau was that grassroots leaders failed to implement them.

It was estimated that a crowd of close to 2,000 people thronged the town centre to watch the Pentas Rakyat which also featured live entertainment by popular local singers.