Tuesday October 9, 2012

SUPP torn between two letters

By PHILIP HII
philiphii@thestar.com.my

SIBU: Sibu SUPP chairman Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh considers the March 26 letter from the Registrar of Societies’ (ROS) to SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin as having been superseded and taken over by events, hence outdated.

“That letter is dated March 26, 2012 whereas the letter I received from ROS is dated April 3. In the letter addressed to me, ROS clearly stated that the party could only carry out ordinary activities pending investigations into the alleged malpractises and wrong doings in at least 12 branches during the last triennial delegates conference (TDC),” Wong said in a press conference yesterday.

Wong further said that on Oct 2 this year the ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman had told a press conference that the status of SUPP had yet to be confirmed due to the fact that its legality had not been established.

Wong said the following day Abdul Rahman told him personally that pending the investigations by the ROS, the party could only carry out ordinary activities.

When asked what “ordinary activities” actually meant, Wong said Abdul Rahman explained to him that it meant “party administrative matters”.

Wong stressed that following these events, including the explanation to him by the ROS director-general, the recently held SUPP central committee (CC) and central working committee (CWC) meetings were illegal.

It is understood that in the meetings a motion was passed to refer Wong to the disciplinary committee and to sack him from the party if he was found guilty.

Another motion was also passed to pull SUPP out of BN.

In response to SUPP secretary-general Dr Sim Kui Hian’s claim that the March 26 letter was not made public earlier due to an agreement between SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin and himself (Wong), Wong claimed that in that agreement, there was no mention at all of the legality of the party.

“This agreement was reached at 11pm on April 26 this year at Room 1400, RH Hotel. It was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud,” Wong disclosed.

He said in the meeting, Chin repeatedly asked him and his supporters to return to the party.

“I told Chin that for heaven’s sake, don’t talk about returning to the party as it was a non-issue since I and my supporters are still SUPP members,” Wong stressed.

He said Chin agreed to this point and also agreed not to talk about it again.

Wong said the only other point they talked about and agreed upon was to leave the preparations of the 13th general election in Sibu to Wong and Miri to Chin.

“We only talked and agreed on these two points. If Chin’s faction honours the agreement, why were they focusing on sacking me and pulling the party out of BN during the recent CC and CWC meetings?” Wong asked.

To claims by Dr Sim that the agreement was aimed at averting conflicts and to ensure the party concentrate on preparing for the 13th general election, Wong said their actions contradicted these.

Wong also denied he had interfered in the party’s business.

“As a minister I am performing my ministerial duties such as the appointment of councillors and community leaders. I don’t do it alone. I do it with recommendations from the party’s elected representatives, colleagues in the BN component parties and approval from the state cabinet,” Wong said.

Wong hoped that with this clarification, the squabbles between Chin’s faction and his would finally come to an end and that they would concentrate on preparing for the coming elections.

News

Tuesday October 9, 2012

SUPP torn between two letters

By PHILIP HII philiphii@thestar.com.my

By PHILIP HII
philiphii@thestar.com.my