Elected rep spurned by own party
Malaysiakini
A Sarawak United People’s Party (Supp) elected representative is finding himself increasingly sidelined and ignored by other party leaders in Sibu after he sided with Deputy Chief Minister and party president Dr George Chan in a party conflict last year.
Although the factions, led by Chan and the other led by deputy secretary-general and senior state minister Wong Soon Koh appeared publicly to have set aside their differences, Dr Soon Choon Teck, the Dudong state assemblyperson and an assistant state minister and a staunch Chan supporter, has continued to be given the cold shoulder and boycotted from party activities.
Soon’s decision to throw his support behind Chan as the latter’s leadership was challenged by all Sibu elected representatives from the party, including former Sarikei MP and party deputy president Law Hieng Ding, was seen as a betrayal of the Sibu Foochow cause.
Since then, he has been sidelined and ignored by the Sibu branch led by Wong.
Soon today confirmed to Malaysiakini that the party’s Sibu leaders have boycotted him for the past two years. However, he was quick to say that he and his supporters in Dudong had no intention of leaving the party to join PKR or any other party.
There have been rumours after the falling out between the medical doctor-turned-politician and his colleagues that he was secretly in talks with some opposition parties.
War of words
Asked about rumours that he was about to call a press conference to make a major announcement, Soon said, “Nonsense. No such thing.”
When asked whether he would consider resigning if pushed to a corner, he said: “No.”
Things got worse a few days ago when Wong and Soon engaged in an acrimonious verbal exchange over the recommendations for new councillors in Sibu.
Wong, who is in charge of local government matters, had been quoted last week as saying that Soon could not appoint councillors as the matter must be decided by the party.
Soon replied that as an elected representative he had the right to make recommendations. Today, he insisted that he had, in fact, submitted three names for the two councils – Sibu Municipal Council and the Sibu Urban District Council.
Soon said he was not perturbed and that he would bring the matter up at the next party meeting and the meeting of the Barisan Nasional.
