Soon Koh, the man who wanted to be SUPP president – Part II

suppadmin | November 13, 2015

ANALYSIS: thesundaypost’s ‘The UPP-SUPP Conundrum’ omitted one very significant event in Wong Soon Koh’ s fight for Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) presidency.

Soon Koh did not immediately join UPP and went on to become its president after he quit SUPP.

When he left SUPP, it was to join Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) on May 15, 2014 where William Mawan and the Dayaks held sway.

Soon Koh was parked in Teras for a good two months, a move then Sibu SUPP secretary Tiong Thai King claimed to be supported by “most” of the 20,000 members of the branch.

Interestingly, Soon Koh, whose declared struggle was for the Chinese community, believed that Dayak-based Teras was better than Chinese-based SUPP.

Except for Soon Koh, the rest of the legislators in Teras were Dayaks, how he hoped to propagate Chinese interest only he knew.

But many political pundits were wondering who Teras president – Mawan or Soon Koh was.

Or was Teras creating history by having two presidents?

If anything, all this showed was of a man who wanted to lead a party. If he couldn’t lead SUPP, then it had to be Teras. It did not matter that he was the only Chinese legislator in the party.

Of course, it didn’t work, and so two months later on July 17, Soon Koh announced that he was leaving Mawan and group to join UPP where he finally was made president.

It had been a long, tenuous road for Soon Koh from the time he thought he had been systematically left out of the SUPP 2011 TDC right up to July 17, 2014 when he finally had a party he could call his own.

We now know that Soon Koh and his team of six elected representatives – assemblymen Francis Harden, Lee Kim Shin, Dr Jerip Susil, Ranum Mina and Dr Johnical Rayong, and MP Tiong Thai King – had boycotted the 2011 citing election irregularities.

The seven said the ROS was still investigating the various allegations of election irregularities, and that before the investigation was completed they would not accept the TDC as legitimate “or else, they would be consenting wrong doings in the party”.

Two of the irregularities referred to were on the questionable status of the party’s Bekenu and Piasau branches which the ROS proceeded to deregister in two letters dated Jan 6 2014, one in respect of Bekenu and the other, Piasau.

A third letter was a show-cause letter issued under Section 13(2) of the Societies Act 1966 which required the party to submit to ROS Kuala Lumpur why SUPP should not be deregistered.

Bekenu was deregistered because it had three names of members who were already dead.

SUPP in its official blog posted this:

Explaining why they were in shock that Bekenu and Piasau branches were de-registered, (Andy) Chia said the matter was too minute as the complaint was all about three names which were in the registration list who had passed away. There were a total of 2,151 members in the Bekenu branch.

In November 2011 during Bekenu’s election, Chia said the three members who passed on did not have any bearing on the registration as Chin was elected in as Chairman of Bekenu branch uncontested.

“There were members who would walk in the party and paid for 10 members the registration fees and one cannot expect the clerk to query on that. Besides, whenever an elderly member passed on, it was rare for the next of kin to inform the party to strike off the name from the registration. Ask any party whether they have deceased people whose names are still in the registration list – they would better be cautious from now on, as this would lead to a branch being de-registered,” said Chia.

He added that there was no breech, any fraud or ill intent involved.

“Even if there is, I am surprised that the branch can be de-registered due to a trivial matter,” he said.

On Miri (Piasau) branch, Chia said after the State election on April 16, 2011, Party President, Datuk Patinggi Dr George Chan lost the seat. A group of SUPP (Piasau) members wanted and persuaded Dato’ Sebastian Ting to transfer his membership from Lambir to Piasau.

Ting has been a member since 1986 in Lambir and he filed in the application for transfer on April 25, 2011. The application for transfer was received by the Headquarters on April 29, 2011 and approved and signed by the Secretary General, then held by Datuk Sim Kheng Hui.

The complaint made was that Ting’s approval was out of time, said Chia. In the Constitution, Rule 4 stated that Membership transfers received and approved by the CWC on or before April 30 or on such other date as directed by the CWC in the year of elections shall be registered in the qualifying Register of Members for the elections of the Branch or sub-branch to which the member is transferred.

Chia pointed out that Ting’s transfer of application was approved on April 30. “Let’s presumed that even if ROS decided that the transfer of Ting was out of time, Ting should be the person to be rejected but not the other committee members who were duly elected on November 20, 2011.

He said if ROS could not agree, then they must give Piasau branch a chance to hold a fresh election according to the Societies Act 1966.

“But looking back at Bekenu and Piasau branches, if there is any breech, it is minor. There is no fraud, no dishonesty or ill intent of any party or member concerned. Compared to the DAP convention in 2013, the affected persons involved were 750 members, while in Piasau, it was due to only one person, of which the issue was the transfer of branch while Bekenu was over three persons who had passed on. And the DAP was never deregistered.”

Based on Chia’s explanation, SUPP appealed against the deregistration and also replied to the show cause letter. That was Feb 6.

Night of May 1, after chairing the party’s central working committee (CWC) meeting at the SUPP headquarters, Chin told newsmen that the ROS was satisfied with the party’s reply to its show-cause letter.

He also said the Home Minister’s office had annulled the deregistration of Bekenu and Piasau.

Borneopost Online report on May 1 said:

“Tonight, I am very happy to report that a very long-standing issue that the party has been facing has been properly resolved. This long-standing issue has been causing us a lot of soul-searching among our leaders.

“The minister’s office has sent us two letters dated April 30. One is addressed to Bekenu chairman, and the gist of the letter is to inform that our appeal for Bekenu branch under Section 18 of Societies Act 1966 has been accepted. It means our appeal is successful and Bekenu is a legal entity.

“SUPP Piasau branch chairman Datuk Sebastian Ting also received a similar letter, conveying to him the same message. So from this day, both our branches are legal,”

He hoped members state-wide would accept and abide by the decisions of the minister and ROS, adding they should not have different interpretation on the outcome of the 2011 TDC.

But it was not to be.

While Francis Harden and Lee Kim Shin accepted the decision of the authorities and almost immediately announced their return to the main fold in the interest of the party, the remaining recalcitrant members proceeded to file for a judicial review.

A Bernama report of July 17 said Jerip, Ranum, Rayong, Shiling Banggit, Tiong Thai King, Suzanne Lee Tze Ha and Sia Jii Ming had filed for a judicial review in the Kuala Lumpur High Court to challenge the decision of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for not deregistering the party.

They named the ROS as the respondent.

In their application, the seven claimed that in November 2011, prior to the party holding its 22nd TDC 2011, there had been complaints of alleged irregularities and cheating in the party election.

They claimed that they had brought the dispute to ROS, but there was delay by the ROS in taking the necessary action.

The applicants were seeking, among others, a declaration that the decision made by ROS last April 30 in not deregistering SUPP be revoked with immediate effect.

They were also seeking a certiorari order to revoke the decision by the ROS in line with Section 16 (1)(c) (ix) of the Societies Act 1966.

In short, they were seeking to have SUPP killed once and for all.

Political observers were stunned. Hardly months back in February, Soon Koh was telling party members “to protect SUPP till the end”.

A Borneo Post Feb 9, 2014 report said:

Speaking at the Chinese New Year dinner of the four units of Dudong constituency here on Friday, Wong said there was a suggestion that he leave SUPP to form a new party.

“(But) no, this is not what I have looked forward to. If possible, I shall fight on with you to protect SUPP.”

He pointed out that the party had struggled for Sarawakians for 55 years, and it was the same party that had given him a platform to build his political career.

“I am calling on party members to struggle on. Let us stay calm. Be united. Do not be shaken by sentiments.

“We move forward in the ‘Sa’ati Spirit’ and make SUPP Sibu Branch a solid body to carry on with the mission of the party.”

He urged party members to stay positive no matter what the Registrar of Societies (ROS) decides for the party.

The seven failed of course, and one of the reasons was they had no locus standi to file their case because by that time they were no longer members of SUPP.

By July 17, the day they filed for the judicial review they were members of Teras and UPP!

Soon Koh never got to be president of SUPP.

But he is a president of a party with a not so dissimilar name – UPP.

If that is any consolation!

Source from Jimmy Adit

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