SUPP minister makes no difference to Chinese, says Sarawak DAP
By Shannon Teoh and Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) representation in the state Cabinet is irrelevant to the Chinese community as the party has been ineffective in standing up for them, Sarawak DAP said today.
Secretary Chong Chieng Jen said that despite the race-based politics used by Barisan Nasional (BN) in governing the state, SUPP, as the coalition’s Chinese party, “has not stood up for the Chinese anywhere.”
“With or without a Chinese minister, there is no difference,” the Kota Sentosa assemblyman told The Malaysian Insider.
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had said yesterday that SUPP should not accept Cabinet posts as it did not have the support of the public.
Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia also said that BN should not be “generous” with Cabinet positions to Chinese representatives after Sarawak’s Chinese voters failed to support the ruling coalition.
SUPP won just six of the 19 seats it contested and only two were in Chinese-majority seats where it was battered by the DAP.
SUPP president Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam was formerly deputy chief minister until losing his Piasau seat in Saturday’s polls, leaving Bawang Assan assemblyman Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, who was part of the previous Cabinet, as the frontrunner to replace him.
