Kuching SUPP dissolves Padungan machinery over candidate tiff

 

Wee Hong Seng (left) has been named to contest the seat but the Kuching branch said they had been told it would be Jong Yean Pin.

PETALING JAYA: An internal disagreement over Sarawak United People’s Party candidate for Padungan has led to the election machinery there to be dissolved.

The party had named Wee Hong Seng as the candidate for the seat.

Kuching SUPP chairman Lily Yong said the division had proposed two names to the party leadership and party president Dr Sim Kui Hian had later confirmed one of them, Jong Yean Pin, as the candidate.

However, other names had been added to the list of potential candidates the next day, she said, including one who was not even a member of the division, Borneo Post reported.

“This is against the party’s constitution in terms of eligibility to become a candidate on an SUPP ticket. Kuching SUPP is very disappointed and feels deceived.

“The last-minute change of candidate by the party leaders has caused chaos in the branch’s election machinery. Many helpers have been left in disappointment. We have no choice but to dissolve the branch’s election machinery,” she said at a division event today.

Yong said the division had also been informed that its two recommended candidates had been submitted to Gabungan Parti Sarawak chairman Abang Johari Open for him to decide on the final nominee.

She added that Abang Johari had stated he did not interfere with the Padungan candidate choice and would only step in if there was any controversy over the matter.

“Now, who is telling the truth. On this issue, we choose to believe Abang Johari,” she said, adding that the Kuching SUPP branch would continue to support him in leading GPS.

She said the party division had on many occasions asked Sim about the decision of candidacy but he failed to respond directly and had been “rather vague to our queries”.

However, she urged branch members to come together to correct the inappropriate practices in the party and safeguard the party’s collective decision-making.

“We will stand by what we have said and done. The party will only progress further if we respect and act in accordance with our party constitution,” she said. - FMT