KUCHING: A political analyst said it would be a grave mistake for Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) to pull out from the Barisan Nasional (BN).
A senior lecturer with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Professor Dr Jeniri Amir said if indeed SUPP pull out of the coalition then it would be a great lost not only to the party but also the Chinese community in Sarawak .
He however believed that it was just SUPP trick to frighten the government and BN leaders.
“It’s not going to be real, I believe, it was just an old trick to scare the BN leaders and the government to achieve their own agenda,” said Dr Jeniri to The Star yesterday.
He said the party leaders should make a rational decision and not making their decision just because they were pressured by the grass root supporters.
“The Chinese in Sarawak should accept that SUPP is still a party representing them in the coalition government.
“When SUPP is outside BN then the party is an opposition party and the Chinese will have no more platform to work with the government of the day to discuss matters affecting the Chinese community in Sarawak ,” he said.
Dr Jeniri further said it will a waste for SUPP if indeed the party quit the BN, pointing out that all their hard works and their 40 years struggle together with BN will bring no benefit to the Chinese community.
“What SUPP leaders should do right now is to work hard to strengthen the party and should cooperate closely with the other BN component parties, and at the same time listen to the views of the other component party leaders.
“If SUPP quit BN then the party will be seen as weak and had failed in its struggle,” added Dr Jeniri.
Emphasising that the party leaders be more realistic, Dr Jeniri stressed that it unfair for SUPP leaders to keep pressuring BN leaders to meet the requests and demands from their grass root supporters.
“It is not fair at all, there must be win-win situation and not just demanding this and that without considering the interests of other races,” he added.
He said if all the component parties are doing the same things like SUPP then it will only make the situation more complicated.
“SUPP should assess its own weaknesses and not just because being pressured by the grass root and angry that some of their requests are not fulfilled they threaten to guit the coalition.
Dr Jeniri said in last 40 years struggle a lot has been given to SUPP and the Chinese community in Sarawak and that they should be thankful to the government.
“They should just look at themselves in the economic sectors, they are far advance and having benefiting more than the Bumiputera.
“It unfair if the interests of the Bumiputera is being neglected just to fulfill the Chinese interests alone,” he added.
SUPP is facing a serious crisis including leadership crisis and had being accused of failing to address two major issue affecting the Chinese – land and education.
The party lost eight of the 19 seats it contested in the 2006 state general election but performed better in March 2008 parliamentary election, winning six out of the seven seats it contested. It only lost Bandar Kuching to DAP.
However in the recent Sibu by-election, SUPP lost its traditional stronghold to DAP candidate Wong Ho Leng.
