TAWAU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) deputy president Senator Datuk Chin Su Phin said LDP president Datuk Liew Vui Keong has only two options; either to resign from his post or to have a fair election with Datuk Teo Chee Kang for the party presidency.
Chin said the present situation should be clear to Liew, especially when many divisions have declared their stand on the party election.
“Datuk Liew Vui Keong is only left with two options, either to resign from his post amicably, or to have a fair election with Datuk Teo Chee Kang to vie for the party’s top post, should Liew consider that he still stands a chance,” he said when gracing the LDP Apas, Balung and Sri Tanjung joint annual divisional conference in Tawau here yesterday.
Chin pointed out that Liew would not have lost the support of most of the divisions if he had fostered good relationship and communication with divisional chiefs, leaders and supreme council members during his seven-year tenure as party president.
Liew should understand the realistic side of politics and reflect on himself, Chin said, rather than pointing fingers at someone else or saying that he was cornered.
“We did not backstab him. If Liew had good relationships with each and every divisional chief, leader and supreme council member, if he had the respect and trust of the grassroots, the situation would not have evolved to this stage, in which more 80 per cent of the divisions chose not to stand by him,” Chin asserted.
“If the party president still has (a) conscience, he should not adopt various aggressive, high-handed tactics that could destroy LDP,” he said.
Chin added Liew was earlier reported as saying that the party election should be conducted in a healthy and fair manner without affecting party unity, and he should stand by what he said and have a fair contest with Teo.
However, Liew recently sacked Teo from his post as LDP secretary general and suspended women movement chief Nancy Lim, which showed that he would not hesitate to take a high-handed approach without considering the impact on party unity, Chin said.
He said none of the party members wanted the party election to turn out this way.
“But we must understand and accept that politics is realistic and brutal.”
Chin said the supreme council had proposed to support the party president and deputy president’s leadership in a meeting held three months ago.
During that supreme council meeting, member Chia Butf Shan @ Chiang Bhat Sing reminded the council that it was inappropriate to say that ‘the top two party posts should not be contested’ because the party would be deemed undemocratic and dictatorial. Chia suggested to adopt the wordings ‘to support the leadership of the party president and deputy president’ instead.
Chin reported that several supreme council members did not support the motion in that meeting. In addition, Chin disclosed that it was also said in the supreme council meeting that election contests would be unavoidable if the grassroots members insisted on opening up the party top posts for contest.
“All of these were recorded. Furthermore, the resolution to support the leadership of the party president and deputy president had yet to be endorsed in the next meeting, which means that in principle, the resolution is not binding yet,” Chin disclosed.
Chin said the party’s vice president, Datuk Pang Yuk Ming, had recently announced that he wished to vie for a higher post in the party election, for the president or deputy president post, and there was absolutely nothing wrong in Teo accepting the nominations from the grassroots members to contest for party presidency.
Although the supreme council has passed a resolution to support the leadership of the party president and deputy president, Chin said more than half of the grassroots wanted Teo to contest for the top party post.
“How can Datuk Teo deny the wishes of the majority of party members?” Chin asked.