The Sarawak government today announced, as expected , the appointment of a senior civil servant as the new Kuching City South mayor, ignoring a last-minute plea from the Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) for a party appointee to the post.

The appointment of Chong Ted Tsiung ( pix ), 50, from the state Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) is a break from the tradition where a Supp politician had headed the council since 1963.

Chong succeeded Supp Batu Lintang branch chairperson Chan Seng Khai to the post. Chan resigned from the post after losing his Batu Lintang seat to DAP's Voon Lee Shan in the disastrous May 20 state election.

Chong, a post-graduate degree holder in environment planning and management studies, is seconded from the NREB for a two-year period. He was sworn in this morning in a simple function at the state Environment and Public Health Ministry, witnessed by the minister Michael Manyin.

Kuching City South deputy mayor Mohd Amin Hassan, who had been the acting mayor since June, and a number of councillors from various parties were also present.

However, many Supp councillors boycotted the function. The party had appealed to the state government to continue the tradition of appointing its members to the post.

Manyin told reporters that the state government decided by consensus to appoint Chong and believed that his track record as a civil servant for 23 years will make him a good mayor.

According to Chong, he was only informed of his appointment on Sept 7. He added that he will only officially start his work on Oct 1 allthough his appointment was effective from today.

Waning influence

Meanwhile, state DAP leader and Bukit Assek state assemblyperson Wong Ho Leng agreed that the post of the mayor should not be a political one.

"Communist China allows democratic election of village heads, why cannot a democratic Malaysia practice election of councillors, and above all else, mayor?" he asked.

He said that the fact that Supp was overlooked by the state government indicated the party's waning influence in the state, which suffered a major lost in the recent state elections to the opposition.

Wong added that the loss of the mayoral post follows the party's lost of the Sibu Rural District Council chairmanship post five years ago.

He expresses shock that Supp top leaders were not making enough noise to protect their interest.

"The medium ranked leaders made some noise, but soon they were gagged. Nothing could change what had been decided. The Supp had no effective say over the ultimate decision," he added.

Kuching has two mayors - one heading the Kuching South City and other, the Kuching North City Commission headed by mayor Abdul Hamid Mohd Yusof.