SIBU: Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh said he was puzzled with the reaction of SUPP’s party central over his appointment of Chinese Community leaders.
In a press statement received here yesterday, Wong, who is Second Finance Minister and Minister of Local Government and Community Development, said the party central secretariat had criticised him for appointing some Chinese community leaders without first consulting them.
He said their reaction contradicted with what they had done in 2011 when he (Wong) was appointed with the ministerial posts.
“They objected my decision in accepting the posts. They not only condemned me publicly, they also washed their hands and distanced themselves from me; they said my acceptance of the posts had nothing to do with the party. They insisted it was my personal decision. Now, they said I did not consult them when discharging this ministerial duty.”
Wong said he had now found the words and actions of the central committee contradicting.
He said they had not only distanced themselves from my accepting the posts, they did so through three channels to get their message across.
“Firstly, they publicly condemned me and washed their hand of it on April 19, 2011, then, they wrote a letter to me to distance themselves, and thirdly, they pressured the then party president Datuk Patinggi Dr George Chan to act against my acceptance of the posts.”
Wong said they were so determined then that they even wrote to Chan, through a lawyer, threatening to bring the matter to the court.
He said despite the pressure, he had taken the pros and cons into consideration, and for the benefits of the Chinese community.
“I did not bow in to their pressure and accept the posts”.
On the appointment of community leaders, Wong said it was his ministerial duty – a job that SUPP central secretariat had distanced themselves from him.
“In discharging this duty, there are criteria and standard from the state government to fulfill. I have taken the needs of the Chinese community into consideration. I have even consulted the opinions of the community leaders, like the temenggongs,”
He said in his ministerial duty, he had to consider replacing community leaders who were too old, those vacant posts to be filled and the community leaders whose terms had expired and would not be re-appointed.
Although SUPP central committee had distanced themselves from his ministerial duty, Wong said they could still approach him to discuss urgent matters relating to the appointments.
“We can sit down and discuss things for the benefits of the Chinese community. But, they have never done so.”