KUCHING: It’s official, Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat has joined the Sarawak Workers Party (SWP).

Wong, who quit SPDP last month, has been accepted into the party and appointed as its vice-president.

Party president Larry Sng said Wong’s application was approved unanimously.

“He (Wong) is automatically a supreme council member by virtue of being an assemblyman,” he told a press conference after the party’s supreme council meeting at its headquarters near Jalan Tun Jugah here yesterday.

The post is now filled following a void left by Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) chairman William Ghani, who rejected the offer following a controversy on his proposed appointment.

The party’s senior vice-president is Josephine Mawat and other vice-president is George Lagong.

When asked if Wong had been included in SWP’s list of candidates for the parliamentary elections, Sng said the supreme council had yet to decide as the date for the polls was still unknown.

“We have not deliberated on the details. It is safe to say that we would call for a supreme council meeting just before the elections, or right after elections are called.

“This matter would be deliberated closer to the election date. In the meantime, we are assessing the situation on the ground and run- ning checks on potential candi- dates,” he said.

Sng added that the party was still firm on its stand to contest in six parliamentary seats where PRS would also be eyeing, namely Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Selangau, Julau, Kanowit and Hulu Rajang.

“Ideally each constituency should have two names (of candidates) so that we can assess individuals vying for candidacy. This could be delibe-rated at the party level because we are not a member of any coalition. As such, we do not need to seek approval from elsewhere,” revealed Sng.

Sng also pointed out that SWP would maintain its “open door” policy and accept anybody as members as long as they understood the party’s struggle.

Wong resigned from SPDP on Aug 11 after sending his resignation letter by courier to SPDP president Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom, following SPDP office’s refusal to accept it.

He came to this decision because of his dissatisfaction with Julau MP Datuk Joseph Salang, who is also PRS vice-president and Deputy Infor-mation, Communications and Culture Minister.

Wong had repeatedly stated his intention to go against Salang for the Julau parliamentary seat because according to him, the people on the ground wanted a local to represent them and not Salang, who is an outsider.

It is said that Wong came to the SWP headquarters on Friday, bringing with him several community leaders from Julau to apply for membership.

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