Fellow CWC Members, CC Members, Central Youth and Central Women leaders, Distinguish Delegates, Branch leaders and Fellow Comrades,

It is 2 years and 9 months since the 22nd Triennial Delegates Conference that was held on 10th and 11th December, 2011 at the Pullman Hotel, Kuching. Thus in compliance with our Party’s Constitution, we are gathered here to once again perform our duties as delegates and observers in this 23rd Triennial Delegates Conference 2014. As Party President, I bid you all a warm welcome to Kuching and to our Party Headquarters. With loyal leaders and members like you all, I am confident the Party will be having a bright future. Thank you for coming to do your duty to our beloved Party.

As our Party had just celebrated its 55th Anniversary recently, I take this opportunity to wish one and all “Happy 55th Anniversary” and may we look forward to many, many more anniversaries in the future.

THE TDC 2011 AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS

Fellow Comrades,

Allow me to spend a few precious minutes of your time to recall some of the events that took place behind the scenes just before and during the TDC 2011. There was much excitement and even high drama being played out at the time due to three (3) major speculations, namely: 1) whether the Prime Minister, Dato Sri Najib Bin Tun Razak, would come to Kuching to officiate the opening ceremony of the TDC 2011; and if he did not come as planned, then the TDC 2011 would not proceed as planned; 2) whether the group consisting of some Party leaders and delegates led by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh would or would not turn up to attend the opening ceremony as well as participate in the election process for the Central Committee and the Central Working Committee; and 3) whether the TDC 2011 could get the requisite quorum from amongst the delegates to proceed, if the group headed by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh did not turn up for the TDC 2011.

Fellow Comrades,

As you will recall, two matters turned out to be mere speculations because our Prime Minister, Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak, did come to Kuching and officiated at the opening ceremony of our TDC 2011 and, secondly, there were 321 delegates who came to the Conference Hall at Pullman Hotel to sign the attendance lists in order to satisfy the requirement of quorum which was half of the total of 552 delegates entitled to attend the TDC 2011. Only the matter pertaining to the boycott staged by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and group became a reality and it was unfortunate because these delegates were already in Kuching at the time and they could have attended had these delegates not been stopped from attending.

Therefore, I do consider the events that lead to the boycott of the TDC 2011 by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and group as being rather unfortunate and could have been avoided had cool heads prevailed. Nevertheless, as the events unfolded the rift between Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and his supporters developed from bad to worst. It started as a contest for leadership of the Party between two groups with different visions for the Party’s future but later being fanned by some speculative press reporting developed as a sort of personal leadership struggle between Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and myself. I want to make it clear that I have no personal grudge against Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh or for that matter against any of the YBs and Party members who chose to follow him. I might add that the difference between Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and myself is that of leadership style. Even though it maybe ‘water under the bridge’, had there been an election contest during the TDC 2011 and had Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh’s camp won the contest and Dato Sri Wong became the Party President, I would have gladly acknowledge him as Party President and fall in line with the Party’s directive, if any. I will let history be the judge on my actions over the past two years and nearly nine months as President of the Party.

To talk about the struggles of our Party over the past 2 years 9 months, I must recall that on 30th April, 2014 the Registrar of Societies had cleared the Party of any purported wrong doing pertaining to the complaints lodged against 15 SUPP branches supposedly incurred during their respective Triennial General Meetings. At the same time, the Minister of Home Affairs had accepted the appeals submitted by SUPP Piasau and Bekenu Branches against the cancellation of registration orders made by the Registrar of Societies. This means the two SUPP Branches had been back to function as normal. The good news have been well received by all SUPP members everywhere.

However, the good news to nearly all SUPP members did not gain the same traction or impact on 7 former members who collectively filed a Judicial Review petition at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. This Court action for judicial review basically means these 7 former members (whom I describe as “the Gang of Seven”) wanted the Court to overturn the Registrar’s decision made on 30th April, 2014 which was in favour of SUPP. They wanted the registration of SUPP to be cancelled! It is so unkind of “the Gang of Seven”, consisting three ADUNs, one appointed Council Chairman, two appointed political secretaries and one appointed Penghulu, who are able to hold their present positions because they were members of SUPP before being appointed. If the Party had not chosen them amongst others, the State Government would not have accepted them and gave them their appointments! Question to ask is: Where is the sense of gratefulness? These people need to examine their priorities!

UNITY FOR THE FUTURE

Fellow comrades,

So much about the past. It is the future that is more important to the Party. Let me begin by stating the obviously vital ingredient for our Party to survive into the future – SAATI or UNITY. Going forward and able to withstand the challenges presented by the UPP, the DAP and the PKR for the urban electorates, SUPP must go into these battles united as a strong force that is determined to win those seats. It may not be easy for us to achieve the STRONG UNITY that really binds us together but we do not have a choice. Although the next State elections may be a year or two away, we need to start this process of healing the rift and rebuilding in ALL our constituency branches – all nineteen (19) of them! I do not have the magic wane but I must call on ALL loyal party cadres and supporters to really go to the ground for the sake of our Party’s future in Sarawak politics. The experiences that we have built up and the present solid network that we have established will surely be better off than the newly formed UPP which is outside the BN and whose objective is to replace SUPP in the Government. Let us build on strong points that we have and dedicate ourselves to the task of convincing our voters that SUPP, having a well tested and proven history, is still the better choice to represent them. At this Triennial Delegates Conference, let us show our unity of purpose which is to win all the State constituencies allocated to our Party during the up-coming State General Elections. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves any more. Let us take a cue form the Women Wing’s delegates meeting recently. We saw that everything went smoothly and there was no contest for the post of leader of the Women Section. I must commend our Women Section leaders for the wise handling of their Delegates Conference.

TRANSFORMATION OF SUPP

Fellow Comrades,

We have a good Transformation Plan that was introduced on the 1st December, 2011. Of course the Plan itself is not complete in every aspect but it is a good basis for the Party’s leadership to work on for the greater good of our members and our communities. I do believe that the Plan will be able to revive the fortunes of SUPP in the long run as it reflects the objectives of our Party when it was formed 55 years ago. Even as I am speaking now, some parts of the Plan have already been implemented but it will take time to see success resulting from these efforts. Important changes in our Party’s directions are slowly taking shape and some examples are: the setting up an independent disciplinary committee to handle discipline issues within the Party; meaningful participation in the BN Government both at State and Federal levels; amending the Party’s Constitution to institutionalise changes; grooming of younger leadership both at Branch and at Party Central levels; speaking without fear or favour for the Rakyat via the many press statements made by our Party organs; ensuring some level of financial independence as our leaders went about raising funds to finance the expenses of the Party and working hand-in-hand with like-minded political parties to better serve the Rakyat. These transformation processes will take time to mature and yield the sort of results that can be seen and felt. I am confident that with more emphasis being given by the next Party Central leadership, more and better outcomes will emerge. Certainly it is better than NO CHANGE at all. All I can say is please be patient.

BN PRINCIPLE

Fellow Comrades,

As you know I had been speaking out against UPP joining BN as a component party. This newly formed Party is being lead by former members of our Party who had decided to “jump ship” because they could not get along with the present leaders of our Party. The four YBs who now band together to form UPP (with some others in tow) are now claiming that they are entitled to join BN because they are still keeping their appointments in the BN State Government. Or lately the UPP is claiming if the party is not in the BN yet, the Party is in the BN+ State Government! This is the so-called the back door method of gaining entry into BN! SUPP wants BN Sarawak to be firm in dealing with these former SUPP members otherwise BN Sarawak is giving the wrong message to these YBs and their followers. BN Sarawak as a matter of principle should tell these people that they cannot simply “jump ship”; ignore the Party from which they stood in the elections, form a new party and then claimed to be inside BN with impunity. A correct message will go a long way to ensure peace and harmony within the BN in order to ensure that BN is credible, strong and united to face the State elections.

It is my duty as President to say a few words about the need for SUPP as a senior BN component party to co-operate and to work closely with Tan Sri Hj Adenan Hj Satem, State BN Chairman as well as Dato Sri Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, the National BN Chairman. Through my years of involvement as one of the Party Central leaders, I realised the important roles of the Chief Minister of Sarawak and that of the Prime Minister in shaping public opinions for or against SUPP on issues that are crucial, particularly from the perspective of the Chinese voters. I must say that today there is a friendly Chief Minister and a friendly Prime Minister. As such our Party must preserve the friendship of these two important leaders and to work with them on a shared BN vision for the Chinese community which happens to form the majority of our Party’s members and the urban electorates. I do not mean that SUPP must “kow tau” to these two leaders but that we need to earn their respect and friendship. After all as heads of BN at State and at National levels, both the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister must also have the support of the Chinese community in Sarawak to be successful. Thus, it is through this linkage that SUPP can best articulate on behalf of all its constituents in all of its 19 State and 7 Parliamentary seats. I am confident that our Party, which had been able to withstand all sorts of trials and tribulations over the past 55 years, will continue to play a major role in Sarawak politics.

PARTY ADMINISTRATION

Fellow Comrades,

On Party administration, our Secretary-General as well as other Comrades will be reporting fully on what had taken place since the TDC 2011 and there is no need for me to repeat the same. However, I need to point out that our Party leaders throughout the State must be vigilant at all times to ensure that our enemies, particularly those from within the ranks of membership, will not succeed in destroying our Party but creating fractions under the divide and rule strategy. We must report to Party Central what is happening at Branch level with regards members or ex-members trying to split the Party. We should condemn in the strongest term for any such interferences from any quarters. Going forward, we protest in the strongest term against any BN component party’s actions to cause rift amongst SUPP leaders. Being on the same side, BN component party leaders should trust each other and sincerely help each other to win all the seats allocated to each of the component parties.

There are two more matters that I like to add here: 1) Since 2011 we discover that there is an urgent need to streamline our Party’s Constitution and Rules in order to bring this important document up to present day practises. There exists certain areas of conflict which may lead to difficulty in administration the Party machinery smoothly and fairly. This exercise will be undertaken as soon as possible by the CWC; 2)There is the issue of the suspension of Sibu Branch due to sudden departure of the former Sibu Branch Chairman and other main officers. Now that the Party Central has decided to implement a much earlier decision to form 5 branches in the Sibu area namely: Bukit Assek; Dudong; Bawang Assan; Palawan and Nangka, we will need to find a mechanism to accommodate our members and leaders elected from these new branches. I will leave it to the new leadership of our Party to all angles relating to these matters and to make appropriate decisions for the sake of our Party’s important Central Region.

CONCLUSION

Fellow Comrades,

Lastly I like to thank each and every Central Committee member, all Central Working Committee members, Youth and Women Wings leaders, all distinguished delegates, all Branch and Sub-Branch leaders as well as all SUPP members throughout the State for your understanding of the issues facing the Party and for working with me as Party President. Thank you all for support and kindness shown to me when we met to discuss about matters facing our Party. I wish to offer my sincere apologies if I had offended you in words or actions during my term as Party President. I want to stress here that I bear no ill feelings towards any leader or member and I do hope you will also bear no ill feelings towards me. I just want to do the best for SUPP while I had the opportunity. As I had announced that I will not be seeking a seat in the in-coming Central Committee (2015 to 2017) and thus retiring from active duties in the Party, may I take this opportunity to offer my best wishes to the new Central Committee and our new Central Working Committee upon their elections during the course of this Triennial Delegates Conference. May Almighty God guide you all to lead the Party to greater heights and may the Party achieve a resounding success during the up-coming State General Elections. Thank you very much for everything.

SA’ATI, SA’ATI, SA’ATI!

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