Wong (fourth right) arriving at the luncheon together with Lu (third left), Dr Jerip (fifth left), Liu (third right) and Chai (second right).
(From left) Chai, Ranum, Wong, Lu, Dr Jerip and Liu at the luncheon yesterday. – Photo by Edmund Chang
KUCHING: It was a no-show by Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) key leaders at their arranged luncheon yesterday, leaving United People’s Party (UPP) leaders feeling dejected while reliving the disappointment of previous failed reconciliation efforts.
Temenggong Lu Kim Yong, who initiated the supposed-to-be first meeting between SUPP and UPP, said the meeting was organised to enable key leaders from both UPP and SUPP to discuss cooperation to reunite the Chinese community in facing the next state election.
Lu, who is UPP advisor, together with president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, deputy president Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, senior vice president Ranum Mina, publicity secretary Pemanca Liu Thian Leong and organising secretary Bruce Chai waited for about half an hour, hoping SUPP leaders would turn up at the eleventh hour before speaking to the press.
Invitations to the luncheon were extended to the president, deputy president, secretary-general, treasurer, organising secretary and publicity secretary of both parties.
Eventually when realising that none of the SUPP men would turn up, they addressed media members – more than twice the number of UPP leaders – by expressing how disappointed they were that ‘the other side’ had failed to respond to their effort for reconciliation.
Wong, who is Second Finance Minister, said he could not comprehend why SUPP leaders defied the repeated calls of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem for the two parties to meet up and sort out differences.
He was of the opinion that an ‘imperial decree’ would eventually be issued from the top, coercing leaders from both political parties to be seated at a roundtable for the sake of the Chinese community.
“I am sure the chief minister will direct us to do so when the time comes. When this time comes, what is hurt will be our pride and we will be embarrassed before our non-Chinese friends. Why must we wait until there is more pressure from the above level?
“It seems like there is a lack of pride in the Chinese community. Why can we not deal with the problems ourselves? So, I do not comprehend the thinking and the action taken by the other side,” he told reporters yesterday.
When asked what SUPP’s no-show indicated, Wong, who is also Minister of Local Government and Community Development, responded: “Well, you have to ask SUPP why they failed to turn up. We are disappointed. We talk about reconciliation all along but this is another effort arranged by Temenggong (Lu) and they failed to respond.”
The senior minister said the reconciliation effort was nothing new as the present UPP leaders had talked about the topic not once but many times when they were all still in SUPP but they got nowhere.
Wong said even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and then Chief Minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had suggested that both parties work out a 50-50 formula as a solution to solve the leadership crisis in SUPP.
“In fact, the prime minister called me twice from Kuala Lumpur to ask me whether I agree to a 50-50 formula. I agreed and we submitted our name list to the then chief minister but somehow the other side failed to respond. So the reconciliation plan collapsed.
“Not only that, they took drastic step by sacking all of us. They said we are rebels, they said we betray the party which is far from the truth. In fact since day one, we wanted to reconcile and see whether or not we could get together but somehow they treated us like rebels and sacked all of us. In fact, we were oppressed within the party.”
On whether UPP and SUPP would ‘square-off’ in the coming election in the event that both parties failed to agree with one another, the senior minister said UPP would leave it to the wisdom of Adenan and other Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders.
“I believe that when our chief minister asks the two parties to come together and talk, he must have the formula. I’m sure he has a formula.”
Wong, who is Bawang Assan assemblyman, said Lu’s sincerity in organising the luncheon should not be doubted, as it was to bring about greater unity, particularly among the Chinese community representatives.
“We want greater representation of the Chinese community in the mainstream of politics. So unless there is a greater unity and working together between UPP and SUPP, there will not be greater representation for the Chinese community.”
As at press time, The Borneo Post’s attempts to get comments from SUPP leaders yesterday failed. Neither did state BN leaders The Borneo Post approached react to the absence of SUPP.
Meanwhile, Lu said he was compelled to host the meeting because he felt that it was part and parcel of his responsibility as a Chinese Temenggong, hoping that through a closed-door discussion, both parties could come up with a consensus to reunite the Chinese community in facing the coming state election.
“We regret to say that we have been trying our best to offer a luncheon but the other side didn’t turn up. Nevertheless, as the Temenggong of the Chinese community, I will do my very best to see whether the two parties can work together.
“I believe that there must be a start to get the two parties together to reconcile for the betterment of the Chinese community and also the next generation.”