KUCHING, Sept 3 – The approval of five new Sarawak-based political parties by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) may be deemed as too many.
Nevertheless, such approval was also an indication that democracy was practised in the country, said Sibu Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) branch chairman Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh.
The state finance minister (II) and local government and community development minister said this to reporters when met at a Kuching City South Council (MBKS) Hari Raya open house here today.
Yesterday, the ROS handed over registration certificates to 20 new political parties, comprising 11 from Sabah, Sarawak (five) and the peninsula (four) at a ceremony in Putrajaya.
The new parties from Sarawak are Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras), Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDS Baru), Parti Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak Bersatu (Persb) and People’s Alliance for Justice of Peace (Peace Party-Sarawak).
Meanwhile, Wong said he was still waiting (for the ROS) to decide on the disputes which erupted since the last SUPP election in 2011.
“We are waiting for the ROS decision…once a decision is made by the ROS, we will sit down and see what we are going to do,” he said.
SUPP, the oldest party in Sarawak, had split into two factions ahead of the party polls in December 2011, with Wong leading one faction, and party president Tan Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui, the other.
The situation worsened when Wong, together with several other elected representatives in the party, decided to stay out of the party election by claiming there had been irregularities in 14 branch elections which were not addressed, ahead of the triennial delegates conference.
– BERNAMA
