KUCHING: UPP deputy president Datuk Dr Jerip Susil has announced that the party’s Batu Kitang branch would be launched on Nov 30.
According to Dr Jerip, they decided to form Batu Kitang branch after the party’s success in receiving support from people from all walks of life in Batu Kawah, which had also spilled over to “the other half of Batu Kawah area that is Batu Kitang”.
“We have members of Batu Kitang who have decided that they want to launch Batu Kitang branch as well because they have seen that it is for us to be united and work together to contribute back to society,” he said in his speech at the first anniversary dinner of UPP Batu Kawah here on Wednesday.
Dr Jerip, who is Bengoh assemblyman, hoped that the spill-over effect would not just be confined to Batu Kitang but would also move on to other parts of Kuching such as Kota Sentosa, Padungan, Pending and Batu Lintang.
“We established UPP because we want to be relevant to the people and to the people whom we serve in Sarawak. We believe that what we are doing is relevant to other parts of Kuching.”
While admitting that winning Batu Kawah state constituency would be a very challenging task for UPP in the coming state election, Dr Jerip believed that as time goes by people would believe the party’s sincerity and struggle that is for the people of all races and religions.
“I, for one would like to see our UPP members to be more on the ground and I also would like to see that our candidate for Batu Kawah shall be none other than Liu Thian Leong because he has worked very hard to see all of you come together.”
He said the attendance of more than 1,300 UPP Batu Kawah members at the dinner was a testimony of what the party could do and what it wanted to do for the future.
“We have reasons to see the response of such magnitude. Our desire to serve the people at grassroots level is much more apparent and we are at this point of time being seen as a party that serves the communities all over, those in the northern, central, and southern regions and also the other parts of Sarawak.
“We are actually on the ground to serve the people and for this reason, we want to congratulate, particularly for what had happened in Batu Kawah.”
Dr Jerip said among the ‘assets’ owned by the party which it could capitalise at this point of time was the ongoing and rising support for Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, besides the party’s education fund.
“Our Chief Minister has been in office for about 20 months and he had stated out his policies in such a way that all Sarawakians are in favour of. One of the things that he had expressed in his policies was the whole idea of maintaining Sarawak as a harmonious state and free from all forms of extremism. We in UPP also want to ensure that this also is our mission and vision.”
He said Bumiputeras in the party were also very supportive of Adenan’s emphasis on rural development because they believed that the rural areas still needed a lot of development and with development, the natives in rural areas would benefit from government policies.
Due to Adenan’s policies, he said the Chinese community, who had once supported the opposition, was gradually returning to mainstream politics, adding this was a reflection of Chinese support for Adenan’s struggles and policies.
On the education fund, he said UPP would continue to make it part and parcel of the party’s contribution to the society to enable those wanting to further their studies to achieve their aspirations.
“We are very grateful to those who contributed to this fund and as we disburse this fund, we are conscious that there are many others who need this fund and many who do not have the means and ways to further their studies.”-Borneo Post
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