Special arrangement?

by Churchill Edward, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 22, 2012, Wednesday

KUCHING: SPDP claims ROS approval to hold postponed 2010 AGM on March 17.

The Registrar of Societies (ROS) has given Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) the green light to hold its outstanding annual general meeting (AGM) and triennial general assembly (TGA) on two consecutive days.

SPDP deputy secretary-general Paul Igai clarified that this arrangement was agreed by the ROS to make up for the AGM which was not held in 2010 due to several reasons including preparation for the state election.

The party held its last TGA here in 2009 and the next TGA must be held by August this year. The party must hold two AGMs in between the TGAs but it only managed to hold only one, in 2011 in Bintulu, after the last TGA.

The next AGM will be held on March 17 followed by a supreme council meeting before the TGA scheduled for March 18 at Bintulu Civic Centre. Around 800 delegates and official observers are expected to fill the centre.

“The AGM and TGA look like they are close together but technically they are not held simultaneously. The ROS approved the arrangement to make up for the AGM which has been postponed in 2010 due to several reasons including preparation to the last state polls,” he said.

Paul who is also a political secretary to the Chief Minister was responding to queries from party grassroots members who doubted the validity of the arrangement.

When contacted yesterday, SPDP Youth Chief and lawyer Robert Ayu said he had no qualms about the arrangement because technically it could be done in such manner provided the events were held accordingly and properly.

Last Saturday, SPDP secretary-general Nelson Balang Rining said the party was monitoring party divisions which might be facing problems in the run up to the TGA. He said the party had until March 2 to determine whether there were problematic or troubled divisions.

So far, Balang said, there were no troubled divisions and if there were they would be referred to the supreme council for further action to be taken.

There are fears on the ground that confused and disgruntled members could create havoc within some divisions following the sacking of five office bearers who are elected representatives.

Their memberships were terminated by the party supreme council because they committed gross insubordination and undermined party stability.

Some SPDP grassroots members have also raised their misgiving over the arrangement because they feared the party could run into technical and legal problems as they have not seen a letter from ROS approving the two meetings to be held within a day of each other.