KUCHING: SUPP should stop talking about seat allocation as it will not make any difference if at the end of the day they lose them all.
Engkilili assemblyman Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa, who quit the party last month to join Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras), said SUPP leaders should admit that the party was no longer relevant and if they continued to be stubborn and refuse to heed advice from the top BN leadership, then it was possible for the party to end up empty handed in the 11th state election.
“In the last state election, SUPP won six seats, but in view of what had transpired in the party lately the party will be very lucky if it can retain Simanggang.
“Even that (retaining Simanggang) is now not a sure bet as long as the candidate is from SUPP.”
He said the same goes for Senadin, which is helmed by Assistant Minister for Sports Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
Unfortunately, he said, SUPP leaders never wanted to accept the fact that the people were turning their back on the party, and it is this state of denial that had caused the collapse of the party, which is the oldest one in the state.
In the 10th state election in 2011, SUPP won in Senadin, Simanggang, Opar, Bengoh, Bawang Assan and Engkilili.
But on May 15 this year, its elected representatives for Bengoh (Datuk Dr Jerip Susil), Bawang Assan (Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh), Opar (Ranum Mina) and Engkilili (Rayong) quit to join fledgling Teras.
SUPP is now left with Lee and Datuk Francis Harden Hollis (Simanggang).
Following the latest political development in the state, SUPP had stated on numerous occasions that it would never surrender any of its traditional 19 state seats to Teras. In addition, it would also object Teras’ application to join the BN.
Rayong described SUPP leaders’ attitude as shellfish for they would rather let BN lose the seats than to allow more capable entities to defend the seats.
“If really SUPP has a true BN spirit then it should allow other parties who have greater chances of winning to represent BN the seats.
“What the leaders should do is give their full support to whichever parties that BN is putting there because in return the parties concerned will also be able to help them in the seats they are contesting as the saying goes `you scratch my back I scratch yours’.”
Rayong said SUPP should not treat Teras as its enemy, but as a friend if really they wanted BN to win big in the 11th state election.
“Please accept the fact that urban voters are tired of SUPP and because of that it is very unlikely that they can take back the seats it lost to the opposition.
“The situation will be even worse if the party starts to consider Teras as enemy.
“This is actually what SUPP leaders should consider and don’t try to be too stubborn because at the end of the day you may be left with nothing.”