Thursday, July 10, 2008

THURSDAY, 10 JULY 2008- CHUA, TAN USED BY SOME BN LEADERS TO ISOLATE ME, YONG CLAIMS



Chua, Tan used by some BN leaders to split SAPP and isolate me, Yong claims

KOTA KINABALU:


Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Yong Teck Lee has continued his diatribe against Barisan Nasional leaders by describing the recent meeting between SAPP Vice- President Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Sen Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz as unfortunate. “The meeting and photo session Monday, July 7 between Tawau MP Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui and Minister in charge of Parliament Datuk Nazri Aziz was unfortunate and has cast SAPP in a very bad light,” he said. “It was as though SAPP has backtracked from the no-confidence motion against the PM. Although Datuk Dr Chua never mentioned the words to the effect that the proposed motion of no confidence had been ‘dropped’ or ‘aborted’, her comments were misinterpreted,” he said. Continuing with his “Sabah cause” comments, Yong claimed that Chua’s remarks on the proposed motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Datuk Sen Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been misinterpreted by the media. Chua, the MP for Tawau, was quoted as saying: “Whatever we have raised (before) is for the benefit and interest of the people. We won’t be pursuing the issue (no- confidence motion) at the moment and we are still in Barisan Nasional (BN).” Yong claimed that dealing with some Federal leaders was akin to “swimming with sharks”. He also alleged that Chua and SAPP Deputy President Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, who is also Sabah Deputy Chief Minister, were being used by some BN leaders to split the SAPP and isolate him (Yong) from the Party. He said the long 30-day period for SAPP to reply to a show cause letter from BN was “actually intended to split the SAPP and isolate me.” That was why the call by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for an immediate expulsion of SAPP from the BN was not accepted, he said. He alleged that BN did not intend to expel SAPP like it did to the United Sabah National Organisation(USNO) in 1984, a move which Yong claimed had caused the BN to lose in the State election in the following year. To put things in the right perspective and to reaffirm SAPP’s struggle for the people and Sabah, the former Sabah Chief Minister said he had earlier told Chua to be extremely careful when dealing with some KL leaders. “I had alerted her that we had discovered the tactic of the BN leaders to use her and Deputy President/Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan to split SAPP and isolate Yong Teck Lee,” he said. “I am sure this latest episode will make our Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui a stronger leader who can tell the hard truths to federal leaders, however friendly they might seem on a personal basis. “As for leaders like Datuk Raymond Tan, however good his intentions maybe, leaders can be easily awed by the immensity of Federal political power. The fear of the stick and the lure of carrots are enough to overwhelm many people,” Yong said.

No comments: