Don't tell me Sarawak Chinese didn't benefit :Taib to George Chan

Chan and Taib

KUCHING (Bernama) — Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud disclosed today that he met Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Tan Sri Dr George Chan on Thursday and had “an exchange of opinion” with him.

Taib said the meeting went well and that Dr Chan had told him that SUPP would not leave the Barisan Nasional (BN).

“We had an exchange of opinion, details of which I wouldn’t want to reveal. I had given him my perspective of how the Chinese perceive problems and how we can bring them to work with the other races,” he told reporters here.

Has stranglehold on the state

Taib said he had also urged Dr Chan to find new ways to engage the Chinese community and to explain to them the government’s ideas and aspirations.

“If they don’t understand these ideas, they cannot participate in development and they will be left behind,” he said.

Taib said he had striven to help the Chinese community in the state.

“I have helped the Chinese in a general way. Don’t tell me that the Chinese have not benefited from our general prosperity,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Chan said Taib was supportive on many issues affecting the Chinese, including the need to assist Chinese schools and on the land premium rebate issue.

“With the strong support from the chief minister and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, we hope the state election will be easier for SUPP,” he said.

SUPP’s position in the state BN became the subject of speculation after several grassroots members said that there would be no purpose for the party to remain in the Sarawak BN if issues facing the Chinese community remained unresolved. — Bernama