MUKAH, March 25 (Bernama) -- Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) should not expect to win back the confidence of the Chinese community who have been their main supporters since its founding years, if its leaders are not united, Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said here today.
He said the Chinese community in the state were 'sick and tired' to see leaders in SUPP quarrelling among each other to the extent that the party was now on a brink of being deregistered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
One group in the party is led by their president, Tan Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui while another group is being led by its former deputy secretary-general, Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, and both are in loggerheads since the past three years, following a disagreement over the way the party's election was conducted.
"Enough is enough. The Chinese abandoned SUPP because there seems to be no end to your quarrel. They (Chinese community) are fed up...Only when you are united, (that you) can tell the Chinese community 'we are worth your vote'," he said at a gathering with the Mukah Chinese community here and attended by both Chin and Wong.
Being a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party, Adenan said SUPP that was formed in 1959 was the oldest party in Sarawak and should not end up being deregistered as this could lead to racial division caused by political differences in the State.
On a lighter note, he said should Chin and Wong continue to quarrel, it might lead to the founding leaders of the party who had passed away to wake up from their graves.
Last week, Adenan succeeded in ending a three-year squabble between SPDP and its four former leaders who are all elected representatives, by having the party to accept them back and while he hoped that SUPP would follow suit, he was not expecting it to be too soon.
"I'm glad to see (today) that Peter (Chin) is smiling. (Wong) Soon Koh (and Chin) is smiling at each other. No more 'jeling-jeling' (threatening stares at each other). Both of them have the foresight and want to see SUPP revived," he said.
He later called on both Chin and Wong together with several other SUPP leaders to join him on stage to shake hands with each other and the moment was received with a thunderous applause. BERNAMA
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