Sarawak National Party (SNAP) is not keen to merge with the DAP, its secretary-general Stanley Jugol said today.
“We are not excited at the suggestion by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang for the two parties to merge,” he said when asked to comment on Lim’s suggestion on Tuesday.
He said he and other SNAP leaders were surprised with Lim’s comments as the DAP had not cooperated with SNAP in the just-concluded state election.
“They campaigned against our candidates. So, if they wanted to merge with us, they should have been nice to us during the election,” he said.
Jugol said neither Lim nor any other DAP leader had called to discuss the proposal. “The only calls we ever received were from reporters who wanted to get our reaction on the suggestion.”
Jugol, however, left the door open for future cooperation, saying the party may be willing to discuss the matter if an official approach was made by DAP leaders.
Lim, in a statement on Tuesday, had stated that a DAP-SNAP merger would accelerate the Dayak political awakening following the April 16 state election.
Jogol said instead of a merger with DAP, SNAP is considering expanding its influence nationwide.
“We are going to amend our constitution at our next triennial delegates conference by the end of this year,” he said, adding that it would the party to play at the national level.
At Tuesday’s central executive committee (CEC) meeting, SNAP president Edwin Dundang blamed the party’s structural weaknesses and the bad relationship with PKR as reasons for the party’s poor showing in the election. SNAP lost in all 26 seats it contested.
He said SNAP had to fight the election virtually alone. “This was clearly not a satisfactory situation for SNAP since we had considered ourselves part and parcel of Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.
Dundang also said the party’s divisions and branches would be revamped to rectify weaknesses at the grassroots level.
Meanwhile, George Lagong, who won the Pelagus seat as an independent, denied that he is a SNAP man as claimed by Dundang.
He said he is still an independent. “I might join Parti Rakyat Sarawak if that is the wish of the people in Pelagus,” he said when contacted.
Dundang had, during the CEC meeting, announced that Lagong is the party’s assemblyman.
