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File photo of SUPP headquarters.
MIRI (Feb 3): Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has been accused of disrespecting the state Cabinet’s authority and undermining the spirit of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
In a statement, fellow GPS component Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) defended its president, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian, over what it described as Tiong’s “emotionally charged” attacks over recent appointments of Chinese community leaders in Sibu.
SUPP clarified that the latest appointments for Chinese community leaders (KMKK) strictly adhered to quotas established by the State Cabinet Committee and allocated to each political party.
“By launching these public attacks, Datuk Seri Tiong is not merely criticising a fellow party leader; he is demonstrating a profound lack of respect for the Sarawak Cabinet Committee’s collective decisions and institutional authority,” read the statement issued by SUPP’s Central Publicity and Information Secretariat.
The statement came after Tiong issued two public statements within a single day, accusing Dr Sim of being “pompous”, abusing his power, and “playing with fire” in relation to the handing over of appointment certificates to community leaders in the Dudong constituency.
Tiong is Bintulu MP and Dudong assemblyman.
SUPP argued that such public outbursts undermined the very administrative framework Tiong serves under.
It said Dudong has been widely recognised as a traditional SUPP constituency since 1987.
“However, during the last state election, SUPP’s designated candidate was disqualified at the eleventh hour due to baseless accusations.
“The last-minute accusation caught our party completely off guard. As a result, PDP represented GPS in the election, with Datuk Seri Tiong ‘parachuting’ into the constituency to contest.”
SUPP questioned whether this aligned with the GPS spirit that Tiong had so strongly emphasised in his recent statements.
The party accused the PDP president of conducting a “systematic replacement” of SUPP-recommended community leaders after his election as Dudong assemblyman, replacing them with PDP members.
SUPP alleged that there was “double standard” as some of its community leaders were lured and even threatened to resign from SUPP and join PDP, with promises of KMKK appointments.
“Is this unethical practice by PDP precisely what Datuk Seri Tiong had just accused Datuk Amar Dr Sim of doing: using community leadership appointments as a weapon to monopolise political influence?”
SUPP went on to challenge Tiong to account publicly for his attendance record at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly since his election in 2021, as well as the number of questions he had posed to government departments regarding local issues in Dudong.
It also questioned Tiong on the number of development projects he had planned and successfully implemented for Dudong since 2021.
SUPP stressed that the GPS spirit lies in strengthening unity among component parties, pointing to its longstanding partnership with Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) since 1970 as an example.
“PBB and SUPP had never stabbed behind each other’s back. PBB and SUPP resolved any disputes concerning the interests of the people and different opinions through internal channels, rather than wailing via open statements which completely disregard the spirit of GPS as well as the good image of GPS,” it said.
On the Chinese idiom used by Tiong in his second public statement, which translated to ‘If this place won’t keep me, another place will’, SUPP said many people found this remark “interesting and soul-searching”, and wondered it this meant that PDP would be reviewing its position in GPS.
English (US) ·