Amicable solution reached between two rival political parties during meeting with Najib, Adenan
KUCHING: United People’s Party (UPP) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh has confirmed that an amicable solution to the impasse besieging his party and SUPP was achieved during their recent meeting with both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem on Tuesday night.
According to him, both he and SUPP president Senator Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian have agreed that both parties would leave it to the wisdom of both top Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders to choose the most winnable candidates among the two Chinese-based parties to represent the coalition in the state election.
“This way, we hope to achieve what both PM and CM want from both parties — to have more Chinese representation in the government. As such, we will work with all BN component parties to ensure that CM Adenan would have the biggest mandate.
“So whoever chosen as BN candidates from both parties would stand as part of ‘Adenan’s Team’ for the sake of the people of Sarawak and also for the sake of greater Chinese unity,” Wong told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He said both Najib and Adenan would get the feedback from five agencies — special branch of police, Special Affairs Department (Jasa), the military intelligence unit and two other intelligence agencies — to ensure that the most winnable candidates picked from both parties would be fair to both sides.
Asked the number of seats UPP would most probably be allocated with, Wong again said the decision would come from the chief minister.
It is know that SUPP would get the 19 seats traditionally allocated to it, while two new seats would be allocated to both SUPP and UPP.
However, speculations have been rife about the likelihood of UPP being given the seats representing the central region and Bumiputeras, while SUPP would be allocated with those representing the northern and southern regions.
Dr Sim could not be reached for comments on the matter.
In connection with the solution reached between UPP and SUPP, the chief minister would now have to find a way to reconcile SPDP and Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras), as there would be eight state seats at stake, in addition to two newly-created seats.
Previously, PBB has staked its claim to five out of the 11 new seats, and PRS has two. With the additional seats, PBB now has 40, followed by SUPP/UPP (21); PRS 11 and SPDP/Teras (10).