ELECTION TALK: The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Central Working Committee (CWC) which met on Thursday is adamant about sticking to the decision by the Annual Delegates’ Conference (ADC) in October last year that it would contest all the 19 seats traditionally allocated to the party.
The seats are Pending, Padungan, Kota Sentosa, Batu Kawa, Batu Lintang, Mambong (formerly known as Bengoh), Opar, Simanggang, Engkilili, Meradong, Repok, Bukit Assek, Bawang Assan, Dudong, Pelawan, Senadin, Piasau, Pujut and Kidurong.
The four-hour meeting chaired by SUPP chief Dr Sim Kui Hian discussed the decision of Chief Minister Adenan Satem to field BN direct candidates in Bawang Assan and Dudong.
SUPP is worried that it may also lose Opar, Mambong, Engkilili, Meradong and Repok to BN direct candidates.
The CWC rejected Adenan’s decision. It also agreed not to call for a Special Delegates Conference (SDC) to reverse the ADC decision to contest the 19 seats.
Only the ADC has the power to make or reverse the decision.
On fielding BN direct candidates, is it the most ideal strategy to solve the bickering over the allocation of seats between SUPP and the United People’s Party (UPP) and in uniting the Chinese in facing the state election?
UPP, which broke away from SUPP, was formed in 2014 and it is not a BN member.
Perhaps the strategy is ideal if it is in a newly created constituency. Certainly, such strategy is not wise in seats that are already allocated to any BN party as this will cause dissatisfaction and anger. It may also cause the break-up of BN.
Thus, several SUPP branches have openly expressed strong opposition to Adenan’s decision.
They hope that the chief minister will abide by the BN’s agreement in not appointing non-coalition members as BN direct candidates, as these seats belong to SUPP.
“Asking SUPP to give its allocated seats to its ‘breakaway party’ is not the way to unite the Chinese. It’s simply to ‘divide and rule’. We stand solid to defend the rights of all the Chinese,” Sim was once quoted as saying.
“SUPP believes in Chinese unity; dividing the seats is not called unity. It is divide and rule. The Chinese community should not be played out by the hidden hands of a third party, aiming to divide and rule,” Sim said in an interview by a local paper.
SUPP will raise the issue with the BN supreme council as Adenan’s decision has serious implications on the 57-year-old party.
It considers the coming state election as a “life and death” battle; in fact it has already lost two seats (Bawang Assan and Dudong) even before the election.
What option is open to SUPP if it does not agree with the decision of the chief minister to field BN direct candidates in its traditional seats?
Will it leave the State BN?
Some loyal members are calling on party leadership to rethink SUPP’s position in the State Barisan Nasional if Adenan insists on fielding direct candidates in some of the seats allocated to the party.
“SUPP should pull out from the state BN, but remain with BN at the federal level,” said a former SUPP leader.
He said that Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) did it in 1987 after its leaders did not agree with the then chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud over the way the Dayaks were treated by his administration.
PBDS only rejoined the state BN in May 1994.
The SUPP leader who did not wish to be identified said that SUPP joined the state coalition government after the state election in 1970, and it has remained loyal to BN till this day.
He feels that the party should be given due respect and recognition.
Meanwhile, political observers say that the way SUPP is being “mistreated” by Adenan may bring about a negative impression of the chief minister among the Chinese community.
All this while, Adenan has a high popularity rating among the Chinese after he has done several popular policies for the Chinese community.
But it is highly possible that his popularity among the Chinese community may seriously be undermined with the accusation by SUPP that his intention is more to “divide and rule” than to unite the Chinese community when he decides to field BN direct candidates in SUPP traditional seats.
As there is growing resentment among the Chinese against the mistreatment meted out against SUPP, will it dare to pull out of the state BN? Or will it accept Adenan’s decision?
Chinese fence sitters are watching.-The Ant Daily
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