Taib rules out new BN party in Sarawak

Instead he asked the beleaguered SUPP to do more to win the confidence of the Chinese voters.

KUCHING: The Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is not thinking of setting up another political party, especially when at least one BN component party suffered a serious setback in the April state election, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said today.

Obviously alluding to the Chinese-based Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), he said the Chinese community needed to preserve whatever unity they had to ensure their common interest was being looked after.

“SUPP should ask themselves what they can do for the Chinese community. They cannot be anything less,” Taib, who is also state BN chairman, told reporters after a 1,000-member delegation from the Federation of Chiang Chuan Associations of Sarawak and Federation of Seven Clan Associations called at his Aidilfitri open house at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), here.

Asked if the setting up of Chinese clan associations could help win back the community’s confidence, he said it dealt with the social fabric of going back to the basics.

Previously, the state BN’s second-largest component party, SUPP suffered the highest casualty when it lost 13 of the 19 seats contested in the last state polls.

- Bernama