It is not right for the speaker to make political statements, says Chin Su Phin
KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) deputy president Chin Su Phin took to task State Legislative Assembly Speaker Salleh Tun Said for making political statements in the media.
Salleh should learn from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia and remain neutral, he said when commenting on Salleh’s recent statement in support of Chief Minister Musa Aman.
“Maybe it was not your (Salleh) own decision. If your ‘taiko’ wants to make a political statement, he should look for other leaders because it is inappropriate for the speaker of the state assembly to issue political statement,” said Chin.
On his views on the recent Sarawak state election, Chin said it was his personal observations.
“What’s wrong if I spoke about the reality of the Sarawak state election? he asked.
Chin reiterated that apart from the Chinese community, the Malays, the Kadazandusun community and even certain leaders from Umno and the civil servants were not satisfied with the way Musa has been handling things and problems affecting the BN and the people of Sabah.
“It’s not that I am creating problem within the BN. Today, Umno and its leaders are still our (LDP) good friend… I never complained about Umno. I merely commented on one particular Umno leader who is not accepted by certain quarters.
“They should not forget that even during Pak Lah’s (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) time as prime minister, some Umno leaders had asked him to step down because of his weakness.
Wake up
During the Sarawak state election, even MCA was asking Abdul Taib Mahmud to step down as chief minister so that the BN would not be adversely affected during the election.
“Today, we see the same problems in Sabah and I don’t see any reason why we should not speak up. We can see that certain leaders are denying the reality and they only want a review after the election about the reason for BN’s loss,” he said in a statement.
Chin recounted that when Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) was in power, the party was as bold in voicing out problems affecting the state and the people.
“As members of the BN coalition, we should solve problems together . But, those leaders with government posts never want to speak up so I would like to advise fellow BN partners to wake up,” he said.
Chin said the Kadazandusun and Murut communities are now giving stronger support to Upko than the PBS, mainly due to the fact that Upko has now become more vocal than ever in speaking up for the people.
On Youth and Sports Minister Peter Pang’s recent accusation that he (Chin) was arrogant, Chin replied: “I don’t want to comment on his personality. Let the people judge him.”
“When Pang was in LDP I never commented about him and after he quit the party, I never commented about him either. If he is so good in politics, he should not have left LDP and crossed over to Gerakan.”
Chin assured fellow partners in the state BN that the LDP will not change its stand and will continue to soldier on until the problems within the coalition are solved.
“As part of the BN coalition, it is our responsibility to bring up whatever problems we have. We do not want Sabah to be the next Sarawak where the BN won in the state election but lost the Chinese seats ,” he said.
“We have a similar problem in Sabah and should the state BN government refuse to accept the changes, the people would go against us and it will be a loss to the BN,” he said.
Michael Kaung
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