President’s Statement

suppadmin | February 7, 2014

Statement issued by Tan Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui, President of Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) on 7th February, 2014.

Re: CHIN, TIONG MEET ZAHID TO SAVE SUPP; MERGER WITH SPDP

I am really amazed by the above mentioned front page report in The Borneo Post today (7th February, 2014) which had reported that Dato’ Sri Tiong King Sing, Deputy President of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and myself had together met with Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Minister for Home Affairs in Putrajaya on the 6th February, 2014. Quoting from a “reliable source” of the paper, the purported reason for the meeting being to persuade the Minister not to deregister SUPP on the basis that SUPP and SPDP would merge and that Dato’ Sri Tiong King Sing would lead the Chinese wing of the new entity. I had spoken with Dato’ Sri Tiong King Sing this morning about the said report by The Borneo Post and he told me that he was also similarly amazed by such report.

Here Dato’ Sri Tiong King Sing and I would like to categorically deny that any such meeting had ever taken place yesterday in Putrajaya or anywhere else. Both of us had not met with Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to discuss any issue with regards to the alleged de-registration of SUPP or the subject of merger between SUPP and SPDP. Obviously, there is serious doubt about the veracity of the so-called “reliable source” that the Editor of The Borneo Post was relying on to publish the said report which was front-paged. If such a piece of “news” was really worthy of the front-page treatment, why the Editor did not even bother to call me or Dato Sri Tiong King Sing to check on the truthfulness or accuracy of the said report? To link the fictitious meeting with the sincere efforts of SUPP leaders to submit their appeal letters and documents to the Registrar of Societies is really a way of demeaning their efforts.

I appeal to the Editor of The Borneo Post to not publish such unverified reports or “news” about SUPP or any SUPP leader(s). Even if the intention was good, I do not think the need to verify the truthfulness or otherwise of the said report can be superseded by the eagerness to publish such an unverified report. All in all I am disappointed with The Borneo Post and the said report which until now has remained unverified as far as I am concerned.

Therefore, I do demand the Editor of The Borneo Post to publish a suitable apology on the front page of the Saturday or Sunday edition (ie 8th or 9th February, 2014) of its newspapers. Thank you.
Tan Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui,
President of SUPP.
7th February, 2014.

Dato’ Sri Tiong King Sing, in echoing Tan Sri Peter Chin’s statement, affirmed and strongly deny that any such meeting had ever taken place in Putrajaya or anywhere else.