‘Chong diverting attention from main issue’

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Wong, flanked by Dr Jerip (right) and Dr Rayong during a press conference.

KUCHING: Second Minister of Finance Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh says the motion to compel him to retract his statement that the former Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tion Choon is a bankrupt Chong Chieng Jen sought to table it to divert the attention from the main issue.

He said the Kota Sentosa assemblyman had accused him of misleading the August House by alleging Dr Ting is a bankrupt.

“He (Chong) said I misunderstood bankruptcy and insolvency although the meaning of insolvency is similar to bankruptcy. I think this is a trick of DAP to somehow play on the issue diverting the attention away from the main issue,” he told press conference at Media Centre at the DUN lobby.

Wong, who is also Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce, said based on the fact which he had extracted from the Australian Financial Security Authority on July 1, 2016, Dr Ting appeared in the bankrupt list twice – on June 23 and Sept 11, 2013.

“Chong said insolvency does not mean bankruptcy. He said Dr Ting is insolvent, not bankrupt, but you should look at the other search I did.

“This one is the bankruptcy register search and the name of Dr Ting appears here.

“This is bankruptcy registration search. It says here that if you are not sure, you can always contact the Australian Financial Security Authority,” he said while showing the printed extract.

Wong said although Dr. Ting was declared bankrupt in 2012, his name was still in the list of the Australian official document as of July 1, 2016.

“This is a proof that he is a bankrupt. Knowing that Dr Ting came home just three weeks before the state election, meaning he came perhaps sometime in Apri because election was held in May 7, it looked like he never dealt with this financial matter in Australia otherwise when I search July 1, 2016, the bankruptcy register search would not show his name on the list,” he said.

Wong said the Speaker had also gone to some length to explain the meaning of insolvency and bankruptcy.

“That was the ruling made by the speaker. Meaning insolvency is similar to bankruptcy. In other word you don’t take action to rectify you financial situation. You just come home,” he said.

He said the ruling made by the Speaker was also that Dr Ting now is out of the House and therefore the motion referred to a person who is not in the House is not fair to him because he is not there to defend, and so the motion was rejected.

Wong also pointed out one of the Chinese dailies had reported that Deputy Minister of Home Affair Masir Kujat said the government is now looking into the citizenship of Dr Ting.

He said Masir was quoted as saying that Dr Ting has to comply with the law of Malaysia if he wanted to continue living as a citizen of the country.

He noted that according to the report Masir said that Dr Ting had taken the Australian citizenship, a move which led to the ultimate renunciation of his Malaysian citizen because the country does not allow dual citizenship.

“In you take a citizenship of another country automatically you have to surrender your Malaysian identity. In other words, your Malaysian identity will be renounced.

“Masir said the Malaysian government has regarded Dr Ting as Australian citizen because Malaysia does not allow any Malaysian to hold dual citizenship or Ting has to be deported.

“Anyway I leave it as such because this is from the newspaper,” he said.

Also present at the press conference is Assistant Minister for Transportation Dato Dr Jerip Susil and Engkilili assembylman Dr Johnical Rayong.