No Reason For Chinese Reps To Reject Ministerial Posts
(Bernama) – KUCHING — The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Chinese elected representatives should accept a post in the state cabinet to voice out the needs of the Chinese community and continue participating in the decision-making process at the cabinet level, said Federation of Kuching and Samarahan Divisions Chinese Associations president, Dr Chou Chii Ming.
He said a representative in the cabinet would ensure the best interests of the Chinese community was looked after.
“There is no reason for any elected representatives to reject a state cabinet post as they get the support from the people. They should be given the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process at the state cabinet level.
“It will be a sad thing to see a weaker Chinese voice in the state cabinet. The Chinese will be sidelined if there is no Chinese representation in the state cabinet,” he told Bernama when contacted here today.
Chou was asked to comment on the re-appointment of Wong Soon Koh as Second Finance Minister and Environment and Public Health Minister after the new state cabinet had its first meeting, here, Thursday.
Asked on calls for Wong to be appointed deputy chief minister in place of SUPP president Dr George Chan who lost his Piasau seat in the Sarawak polls on April 16, Chou this was the prerogative of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.
“Let the Chief Minister to decide on the fate of any minister,” he said.
On Monday, SUPP Central Working Committee (CWC) held an emergency meeting and decided to nominate its Bumiputera assemblymen for posts in the state cabinet.
In the meeting, the CWC also suggested that the party should not place Chinese representatives in the new state cabinet after the party lost 13 urban Chinese-majority seats in the April 16 state election.
However, Wong, who is also SUPP Sibu branch chief and defended his Bawang Assan when defeated DAP’s Alice Lau with a 1,808-vote majority, was sworn in as a member of the new cabinet on Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, SUPP’s CWC, in a statement, described Wong’s appointment to the state cabinet as a ‘personal decision’.
However, Taib told reporters that no one had the right to disagree with Wong’s appointment as a minister as Wong was elected on a BN-SUPP ticket.
SUPP had contested in 19 seats in the polls but only won six, four of which are bumiputera-majority-seats.
Besides Wong, the party’s other Chinese assemblyman is Lee Kim Shin, who squeezed through to retain Senadin with a 58-majority against Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng.
(Bernama)
