KUCHING, May 9- Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) is choosing to look at the upside of its defeat in all but one constituency it contested in the 13th general election.
The party lost six of its seven alloted seats, but president Peter Chin claims that SUPP still “has the support of the people.”
“The party is still relevant… We still have the support of the people,” he told reporters here after chairing an emergency Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting last night.
According to Chin, having studied the tally of votes garnered by SUPP candidates, it was obvious that the voter support had increased from the 2011 state polls, in which the party was again defeated in almost all its seats.
“For example, we lost Sarikei by 505 votes and Miri by 1,992 votes. And if you tally the votes on those two constituencies, we find that the party had improved much since the last state election in 2011.
“The votes obtained much improved, and this gives us the encouragement as we face the next state election.
“If we can maintain that credibility, we can recover some of the state seats that we have lost such as two in Sarikei and three in Miri,” said Chin.
The party, he said, would nonetheless commission an independent study to find out the real reasons for the loss of the six seats.
“I hope the costs are reasonable to commission the study. But if the costs are exorbitant, we may not be able to afford such a study.
“In the meantime, we want the seven candidates to conduct post mortem on their own and submit the reports to the SUPP headquarters within two weeks,” he said.
Internal sabotage
Except for the Serian constituency which is a Bidayuh majority seat, SUPP lost all the six Chinese majority seats to DAP and PKR.
The seats are Stampin, Bandar Kuching, Sarikei, Sibu, Lanang and Miri.
Chin said they had received reports of “disturbances” from within the party in Sarikei and Miri.
“We are waiting for the full reports, and how the disturbances had affected the final results of the election. We will look into the matter closely,” he said, referring to certain groups within the party who had undermined the candidates’ chances in the election.
Chin said although disappointed, the party, formed 54 year ago, “accepted the verdict of the people”.
He said SUPP was still relevant in Sarawak.
“As a political party for more than 50 years we have learnt that there are ups and downs in electoral fortunes. We accept the verdict of the people.
“We will see how to improve further, and I must stress here that even though we lost in the towns, it does not mean that SUPP will give up completely serving the electorate.
“We will serve those who really need our help,” he said.
Meanwhile SUPP secretary-general Sim Kui Hian said it was vital to restructure the party.
The party, he said, would examine and analyse the results and identify the necessary measures that ought to be implemented.
“We will be carrying out postmortem and do whatever is necessary, and this includes on whether our candidates were sabotaged during the election.
“If we find our candidates were sabotaged we will not hesitate to take action,” he said.
Chin to stay
Earlier Sim told reporters that the CWC had rejected Chin’s resignation letter in which he claimed full responsibility for the loss of the six seats.
“The CWC concluded that it is not appropriate for Chin to relinquish his post to which he was unanimously elected in the triennial delegates conference in December 2011.
“The CWC also stressed that the responsibility for the poor performance at the recently concluded G13 should be collectively borne by the leaders of the party at all levels of the party organisation.
“The CWC had requested him to carry on in his position as party president until the next TDC which is scheduled to be held at the latest by December 2014,” he said.
Sim said Chin had agreed to stay on until 2014.
Absent from yesterday’s meeting was the group led by the Sibu chairman Wong Soon Koh who refused to recognise Chin’s leadership.
The other members of the group include Lee Kim Shin (Senadin Assemblyman), Francis Harden (Simanggang Assemblyman), Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili), Ranum Mina (Opar), Jerip Susil (Bengoh) and the former MP for Lanang Tiong Thai King.
