ONE IN SPIRIT: Lau (seated centre) and his teammates and friends at the press conference.
SIBU: Allegations of “unseen hands” moving stealthily behind the hot election for control of Sibu Foochow Association emerged yesterday when Datuk Lau Cheng Kiong claimed that a corporate body and a surname clan association were attempting to control the dialectal clan.
At a press conference yesterday, Cheng Kiong, who is leading Team B in the election, said clan member Joseph Tang had also made a similar claim.
Cheng Kiong, who is facing Albert Lau of Team A in the election today, claimed that before he announced his intention to contest, leaders of the surname clan association had called on their women section and association members to support Albert.
“The group has now moved out to garner support for Albert so that the unseen hands can build their ‘empire’ in Sibu Foochow Association.”
Cheng Kiong did not reveal the identity of the association and corporate body involved but appealed to his clan members to exercise their democratic right in the election to lift the spirit of the Foochow community.
He said their election used to be clean and friendly even though there were contests.
On his vision, Cheng Kiong said his team would bring together members of the Foochow clan and people of various surnames under one roof.
“We must lift our spirit, and at the same time crush the tyrannic control in our association.”
Cheng Kiong insisted that their association should never be belittled by others.
On his aim to set up a scholarship and study loan foundations in the association, he said this was to help the poor.
“No one should stop such a noble effort.”
He said he disagreed with current chairman Tiong Kiong King that there were already a lot of corporate and government bodies giving out education aids, and therefore there was no need to focus on this.
“Although a lot of our dialect clan members have worked hard to strike rich, there are still a lot who need help.”
He added said although such foundations had also been set up by others, there were still a lot of students from poor families who needed people and organisations to reach out to them.
More than a dozen Foochow clan members and friends, including Cheng Kiong’s teammates, turned up at the press conference to show their support.