Dayak reps scrambling for post

The SUPP central working committee's decision to reject deputy secretary-general Wong Soon Koh's appointment into Taib Mahmud's new cabinet is 'immature and childish', says a SUPP leader.

KUCHING: The four Dayak assemblymen who were voted in on the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party’s (SUPP) ticket are quietly lobbying for ministerial posts in Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s cabinet.

Despite the fact that the SUPP’s central working commitee (CWC) has declared that it had nominated them for posts, they are each doing their own canvassing.

Engkilili representative Johnical Rayong yesterday brazenly declared that he is hoping to be given a ministerial post.

Rayong said yesterday that he had strong reasons for seeking a ministerial post because compared to the others, he had the highest margin of victory.

Rayong became SUPP member in September last year after being a BN-friendly independent for the past four years.

He was elected on a Sarawak National Party (SNAP) ticket in the 2006 state election, but defected to Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

However, his membership with SPDP was short-lived as there was strong opposition from PBB and SUPP. Thus he became an independent.

The three representatives elected in last Saturday state election were Francis Harden (Simanggan), Jerip Susil (Bengoh) and Ranum Mina (Opar).

But of the other three Dayak elected representatives in SUPP, Harden is the most senior.

Harden is SUPP assistant secretary-general and was an assistant minister in the previous cabinet.

Embarrassing performance

His chances of becoming a full-fledged minister are very good.

Next in line is three-term assemblyman Susil. His chances are also good.

Mina is also a senior member of the party. He comes from the Selako Dayak and the only one in the State Legislative Assembly.

Apart from the four Dayaks, two other Chinese assemblymen – Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Assan) and Lee Kim Shin (Senadin) – were also elected.

SUPP had a disastrous outing winning only six out of 19 seats it contested in the 10th state polls.

The CWC yesterday refused to endorse Wong’s appointment to the cabinet in view of the party’s embarrassing performance.

Many within the party leadership felt that it was not right for SUPP to accept any appointments in the new state cabinet as it no longer had the Chinese community’s support.

Torch-bearers

The CWC decision is seen as an act of punishing the Chinese community for supporting the opposition in the recently concluded state election.

The decision has further added to the already divided party.

A prominent SUPP leader, Vincent Lau, has described the CWC decision as “lacking political maturity, morally wrong and childish”.

“Each time SUPP is making a decision, it is either wrong or lacks political direction. That could have explained why the people are losing confidence in the party,” he had reportedly told The Borne Post.

He said that the party should treasure the victories of Wong and Lee and ensure that the duo remain the torch-bearers in the government for the Chinese community.

“The CWC should think of ways to consolidate the party’s power base and how best to win back the support of the Chinese community instead of getting rid of the remaining two Chinese representatives.

“SUPP leaders should be formulating new policies and coming up with renewed strategies and plans so that those from the Chinese community who had switched support to the opposition will eventually return,” he said.