Copperfield remark - DAP's Chong suspended from Sarawak Assembly

Kota Sentosa Assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen has been suspended from the Sarawak state assembly beginning this evening for the rest of the current sitting which ends tomorrow.

Speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar made the decision after accepting a motion moved by Sarawak Second Finance Minister Wong Soon Koh to suspend Chong when the assemblyperson, who is also Sarawak DAP chairperson, refused to withdraw his reference to the state budget as a 'David Copperfield accounting'.

Earlier, when interrupting Wong's winding-up speech, Chong insisted that the state should be a ‘deficit budget’ but had been 'magically' turned into a surplus budget by what the accounting profession called 'creative accounting' and referred it as 'David Copperfield accounting'.

When asked by Asfia if he meant to say that the state budget tabled by Chief Minister Adenan Satem last week was 'an illusion', Chong insisted to refer the state budget as a 'David Copperfield accounting' budget.

Later Asfia put to a vote a motion to suspend Chong with the floor voting 32 in favour, 12 against and one abstaining. - Bernama