Will Wong form a new party?
The animosity within Sarawak United Peoples’ Party is so severe that it will be a herculean task to repair the party’s battered public image, noted a former president.
Wong and his team know that it is an uphill battle for them to win party posts in the party elections, so his opponents accuse them of finding an excuse of bringing ‘irregularities’ of SUPP’s branch meetings to the attention of the Registrar of Societies.
Joseph Tawie, Free Malaysia Today
Speculation is rife that Sarawak United Peoples’ (SUPP) deputy secretary general Wong Soon Koh and his team will be forming a new party if they fail to get elected during the party’s triennial delegates’ conference (TDC) this weekend. The TGA is scheduled for Dec 9-11.
Wong, who is Minister of Local Government and Community Development and Second Finance Minister, is running against Peter Chin, party’s organising secretary for presidency of the party.
Despite Wong’s consistent denials (trice last week), rumours of him forming a new party are gaining momentum.
“SUPP is my first, and also my last party. I will not leave SUPP nor will I form a new party,” he had reportedly said last week. Not many believe him least of all his opponents in the party.
The local grapevine said the idea of forming a new party had been in the pipeline from about three months ago.
Wong’s group had allegedly met Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, James Masing, to discuss their temporary parking with the party in the event that the new party could not be registered immediately.
Wong and his team know that it is an uphill battle for them to win party posts in the party elections, so his opponents accuse them of finding an excuse of bringing ‘irregularities’ of SUPP’s branch meetings to the attention of the Registrar of Societies.
Wong’s team comprises five other elected representatives, who are Lee Kim Shin (Senadin), Francis Harden (Simanggang), Dr Jerip Susil (Bengoh), Johnical Rayong (Engkilili) and Ranum Mina (Opar).
All except Mina hold ministerial positions in Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s state cabinet.
Bid to deregister SUPP
Last week Wong’s group had lodged reports with the Registrar of Society (ROS) accusing several branches who have aligned themselves to Chin of breaching party constitution during their respective elections.
Accompanied by members of his team, Wong met officials of the national-level ROS and complained about the irregularities in SUPP branch meetings. He urged ROS to investigate immediately his claims.
Chin’s supporters claimed the deregistration of the party will give Wong the opportunity to form a new party.
Besides lodging reports with ROS, Wong has also slammed SUPP secretary general Sim Kheng Hui and other principal office-bearers for not taking actions on complaints of irregularities in the branch and sub-branch elections held before the TDC.
He also accused Chin of spewing words detrimental to the Barisan Nasional, pointing out that he being a federal minister should not have uttered those words as SUPP is part of the BN coalition.
Chin was alleged to have told the Chinese media that “the inability of SUPP to let the people see its clear stand has caused the party to be on the downhill. It has not been able to get the support of the voters and has even been bullied by BN component parties”.
Wong also accused Chin and the ‘ruling group’ of the party for not giving him and his team a fair treatment in branch elections.
“They are the ones who are making the decisions. We are not holding key posts. What we want is fair treatment according to the constitution,” Wong said.
He said that there were irregularities and discrepancies in the branch elections which have been brought to the attention of the ROS for his action, pointing out that he does not rule out the possibility that the ROS may have to postpone the TDC or have the party deregistered.
“We want the central election committee to rectify the irregularities. The TDC is coming very soon and the ROS has to make a decision. We leave it to him to make a decision.
“Deregistration of the party is the last thing that we want to see,” he said.
“But if ROS decides to deregister the party, don’t blame us,” Wong added.
He said he and his team cannot be blamed if the ROS decides to take action against the party including deregistering it.
