Dr Sim Kui Hian
KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said the party’s name is “not SUPP Lions Club or SUPP Rotary Club”, that it was a political party not a charitable body.
He said this today when prompted for comments on the United People’s Party (UPP) having stated openly that they should be prepared in the event that a Pujut by-election was called.
Dr Sim, who is also Minister of Local Government and Housing, declined to give a direct reply when asked if SUPP would be vying for the state seat which fell vacant after Dr Ting Tiong Choon was disqualified as the elected representative on Friday.
Instead, Dr Sim said: “The seat belongs to Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties.”
Asked if he would rule out the possibility of BN fielding a direct candidate, Dr Sim said: “I cannot rule out the possibility that you or I would not die tomorrow.”
He also quickly added: “The BN direct candidate would have to resign from the party. Again?”
Dr Sim stressed that under the BN principle, only candidates from BN component parties could contest under the ticket of BN in any elections.
When pressed whether SUPP was interested in Pujut by-election, he said: “How do you know there would be a by-election? They (DAP) said they would bring the matter to court.”
He immediately added: “We are a political party. SUPP is not SUPP Lions Club or SUPP Rotary Club.”
Asked if SUPP had a candidate or two for the by-election, he said the party must have a candidate when the need arose.
However, he refused to disclose how many potential candidates SUPP would have in the event of a by-election for Pujut.
UPP secretary general George Lo yesterday said the party should get ready for it in the event that Pujut by-election was called given that BN allocated the seat to UPP during last state election.