KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) will not let the decision of its disciplinary committee be known until Thursday.
SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin, who said this after chairing the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC) at party headquarters here yesterday, confirmed that the party’s CWC had unanimously adopted the reports and recommendations made by the party’s disciplinary committee which met on Oct 11.
“Today, they have submitted their reports and recommendations to us. We have made decisions with regards to those reports but I will not tell you the decision until this Thursday when my sec-gen Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian issue you a statement. The statement will tell you in detail what sort of decision we have made today with regards to the disciplinary committee’s recommendation,” he stated.
Chin, who is also Miri MP, said it was important for the party to issue the statement so that the press would know exactly what the party wanted to express in writing.
To a question on why the decision of the party’s disciplinary committee could not be revealed yesterday, he stated that it was because the party leadership wanted to tell the press in their own words what they had wanted to express.
“If I tell you verbally like that, there will be different versions of news reports so it is better for us to have a proper statement. Even the names you’ll be very clear and there will be no confusion,” Chin added.
When asked whether SUPP Sibu branch chairman Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh’s name was in the list, he replied: “We will tell all on Thursday, so wait.”
When pressed further on how many names were mentioned in the report, Chin requested reporters to wait for Dr Sim to issue the statement, saying everything would be crystal clear on Thursday.
On the possibility that the persons mentioned in the report had already known their fate since they might have already been informed, he replied: “I don’t know but officially, my secretary-general will issue those letters. So wait, we don’t jump the gun.”
Chin said in the event that the members were either dismissed or suspended, under the constitution they would have 30 days to appeal to the party’s central committee.
Meanwhile, Chin also mentioned during the press conference that the party had received a letter of appeal from founding member and ex-assemblyman Anthony Teo from Bintangor who had been suspended from the party for 28 years.
Suspended for some disciplinary problem, he said Teo had decided to apply for reinstatement of his membership because the suspension would not be lifted automatically.
“I’m very happy to mention to you this event because here you have people who think that SUPP is finished but I can tell you there are members like Anthony Teo who still support the party. When I go around, people also tell me that they will be behind me and support me.
“After 28 years of suspension, Anthony Teo has now decided to be active and help Sarikei candidate Ding Kuong Hiing. So this is something that shows SUPP is not finished and still surviving so I hope this sort of event will give encouragement to our new announced candidates that the party is still very much alive,” Chin said.
When asked on whether there was any more controversy surrounding the letter from Registrar of Societies, Chin preferred not to talk about it.