SARIKEI: Wong Kung Kuong’s appointment as Pemanca for the local Chinese is not the first case that did not require consultation with Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), said Sarikei DAP secretary Andrew Wong Ling Biu.
Andrew Wong Ling Biu
He added that the appointment goes to show that the voice of SUPP is no longer influential in the government’s decision-making process.
Ling Biu said this in response to SUPP Youth chief Tan Kai’s statement over Kung Kuong’s appointment published in this paper last Thursday.
Tan said that his movement was unhappy with Kung Kuong’s appointment because the party was not consulted before the decision was made.
“The very basic foundation of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is upholding the principle of consultation amongst component parties on matters of government policy measures and appointment of relevant offices before a decision is made,” Tan was quoted to have
said.
He (Tan) went on to say that the principle of consultation and due respect had been enshrined in the Point Of Understanding way back in 1970.
The previous case which revealed the absence of say from SUPP’s was when it encountered problems in picking a candidate from among its members to succeed Datuk
Chan Seng Khai as Mayor for Kuching South City Council, said Ling Biu who was SUPP Sarikei deputy chairman then.
“Instead of a SUPP member, Chong Ted Tsiung who was a government officer (Controller of Environmental Quality) was appointed as Chan’s successor and the system was repeated in the appointment of James Chan (then general manager of Harwood Timber Sdn Bhd) as Chong’s successor,” he said, adding that despite protest made by SUPP party members the decision
stayed.
Viewing the development as a wake-up call for the SUPP, he felt that it was high time for the party to review its role in the BN coalition.
Accompanying Ling Biu at DAP’s branch office here yesterday were DAP’s branch chairman and Repok assemblyman Dr Wong Hua Seh and assistant secretary Wong Ching King.