Tiang (left) with Foo at the conference. — Photo by Hiew Man Chien
KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth has challenged Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen to move a motion in the next Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting to stop peninsula-based political parties from spreading their wings to Sarawak and contesting in the 12th state election.
SUPP Youth chief Michael Tiang said Chong, who is Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs and also chairman of Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak and Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak, had on numerous occasions warned the Sarawak government, under the leadership of former chief minister the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, against allowing Umno to spread its wings to Sarawak.
“Chong had even moved a motion in attempts to stop Umno from coming to Sarawak but the then-chief minister responded by pointing out that should Umno be stopped, the same should apply to other peninsula-based parties such as Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and DAP.
“But now, who opened the door for Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu)? It’s Chong, who not only allows Bersatu to spread its wings to Sarawak, but they are also working together with Bersatu,” he said at a news conference here.
Tiang, who is political secretary to the chief minister, equated the acceptance of Bersatu into the fold of PH Sarawak with ‘Umno 2.0 spreading its wings to Sarawak’.
He said it was the same Chong who opposed Umno setting up its branch in Sarawak, but the latter allowed Umno 2.0 to do so. Given this, Tiang hoped that Sarawakians could finally see the true colours of Chong and DAP Sarawak.
On Saturday, Chong announced Bersatu Sarawak as the fourth component party of PH Sarawak.
At present, Bersatu Sarawak is led by its interim secretary Jaziri Alkaf Abdillah Suffian, while its future chairman will be handpicked by Bersatu chairman, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
With Tiang at the conference was SUPP Youth secretary Milton Foo, who also hit out at Chong for launching allegations against the Sarawak government with ‘fake news’.
He said it was inappropriate for the DAP lawmaker to allege that the Sarawak government had instructed its agencies not to help with the registration of applications for Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH).
According to Foo, not only do the state agencies help, but SUPP branches had also reached out to Sarawakians as far as the federal welfare programme was concerned.
He added that SUPP Pending set up a service counter at the Kenyalang Wet Market last Saturday to help the people register for BSH.
He said he was asked by some applicants why the amount of aid had been reduced, adding that some of them, mostly single, voluntarily gave up applying for the programme upon learning about the amount reduction.