SUPP “Boycott Confirmed..!!”

We tweeted when we first heard of the news about 6 hours ago (around 1.30pm) from Grand Continental Hotel by asking,”Could they be a boycott of party elections on Sunday?” 3 hours later we informed,”unfounded fears of a boycott might turn to reality as WSK has called for a Press.Conf. All the tweets were made to PM,Home Minister,Social-Media and the media fraternity.

The question now is ‘Whats NEXT for SUPP..??” We wouldn’t be able to answer that and its up to the grassroot and leaders to turn their fortunes round or face a uncertain outing in the next GE13 as many voters will have losts all hope of the party hierarchy.

Its in their HANDS says a political observer. This infighting will spill down to the elections and BN will suffer the consequences.

We received a full version of Chinese text Press statement from a kind journalist friend on duty but since the internet portal has posted the news we just extract for all to view:-

Press Time Tnay Li Ping of Kuching Branch has been voted in to head the Wanita Wing of SUPP

The election/scrutiny committee are still counting the votes for the Youth Executive Committee at Press time 9.15pm

Press Time 11.32pm Tan Kai of Pending Branch has been voted in to head the Youth Wing of SUPP

 (Internet portal posted at 6:33PM Dec 8, 2011)

The faction led by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) assistant secretary-general Wong Soon Koh has announced a boycott of the party polls, citing allegations of irregularities in the electoral process.
In a statement today signed by Wong and seven other party leaders – all of whom are either MPs or state assemblypersons – they said the central election committee (CEC) had failed to take action on the allegations.
The elections will take place at the party’s Triennial Delegates Conference (TDC) this weekend.
“We will not legitimise the TDC by our participation having regard to the complaints made by many members to the Registrar of Societies (ROS),” read the statement.
The group said it has received complaints from grassroots on manipulation and irregularities in the branch-level elections.

‘CEC not independent’

These grassroots have threatened to resign en bloc and hold a demonstration during the TDC.
“This will certainly portray a very bad image of our party, especially in front of our invited distinguished guests from our BN component parties during the official opening of the TDC. 
“We will withdraw from the TDC to prevent any such untoward incidents,” read the statement.
The group said a formal request had been made to the party’s central working committee (CWC) to deal with the complaints but party president Dr George Chan had refused to convene a CWC meeting.
“Instead, the secretary-general on his own and the CEC have usurped the powers of the CWC by purporting to make decisions on the election irregularities. 
“Under the party constitution, neither the secretary-general nor the CEC has power to make such decisions,” read the statement.
In view of the failure to convince the CWC to resolve the matter, the group’s supporters have resorted to filing a complaint with the ROS.

Postponement sought

Meanwhile, the group is of the view that the following action must be taken to address allegations of electoral fraud:
1) Postpone the TDC;
2) A full CWC investigation into all complaints of irregularities in branch-level elections;
3) Fresh elections be held for affected branches;
4) TDC to be held only after all the irregularities have been addressed.
The group said that should the party leadership insist on proceeding with the TDC without resolving the irregularities, “they will be fully responsible for any action taken by the ROS later”.
“We urge all our supporters and all fair-minded members of SUPP not to participate in the TDC unless and until all wrong-doings at branch elections are redressed by the CWC,” he said.

Chin declines comment

The seven other SUPP leaders named in the statement include MPs Richard Riot Jaem and Tiong Thai King, and state assemblypersons Francis Harden Hollis, Lee Kim Shin, Dr Jerip Susil, Ranum Mina and Johnichal Rayong Ngipa.

However, Malaysiakini understands that Richard Riot does not associate himself with Wong’s faction.

The statement by the group comes hours after candidates aligned to Wong’s faction were routed in the women’s wing elections today.

The other faction, which is led by the party organising secretary Peter Chin, appears poised to takeover the party leadership from Chan.

When contacted, Chin said he might call for a press conference in Sarawak tomorrow to respond to the allegations and refused further comment.

Wong and other leaders said to be aligned to him could not be contacted for comments.