The fate of six state assemblypersons and a member of parliament of the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) is now hanging in the balance as the party is initiating a move to discipline them for ‘acts prejudicial’ to the interests of the party.

The six assemblypersons are Wong Soon Koh, (Bawan Assan) Dr Jerip Susil, (Bengoh), Ranum Mina (Opar), Francis Harden (Simanggang), Lee Kim Shin (Senadin) and Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili) and the MP for Lanang, Tiong King Thai King.

The party’s central committee (CC), which met last Sunday, has approved a motion to refer in particular Wong, who is a senior minister in the Abdul Taib Mahmud government, to a disciplinary committee.

It is understood that the central working committee (CWC) will have an emergency meeting this Saturday to fine-tune the motion before submitting it to the party’s disciplinary committee.

azlan Wong ( left ) is being hauled up for issuing statements criticising the leadership and doing things such as appointing community leaders, political secretaries, councillors, and directors in government-linked companies, without consulting the party.

Wong and his group not only refused to fill the seven slots reserved for them in the CWC, but had also failed to attend the CWC meetings in the last nine months.

Responding to this allegation, Wong said that he was not sure of the reasons for any motion to refer him to the disciplinary committee.

“I don’t have a clue why the SUPP president (Peter Chin) is targeting me unless there are people who have personal grudges against me and are looking for excuses to get rid of me,” he said in a statement.

“And when I deal with official matters, I do it according to the authority bestowed on me as the minister-in-charge. I believe I have done nothing wrong as a party leader nor abused my authority.

“My conscience is clear,” he said, pointing out that he personally was not worried or anxious about the fact that some leaders have filed a motion to expel him from the party.

“There are those who fell out and have been very sour about me being appointed a state cabinet minister. They tried to stop me from joining the state cabinet, but they failed. Now they are plotting to bring me down,” he said.

He hoped that Chin as a leader with wisdom would not be easily swayed by others and became their tool.

‘We have pledged to be united’

Meanwhile, Jerip, the chairperson of the Bengoh SUPP branch and assistant minister for public health, said the proposed action against Wong would contradict the prime minister’s advice for the party to be united in view of the coming general election.

“Anything that happens to Wong will also happen to us as we have pledged to be united among ourselves,” he said.

He declined to comment on whether his group would join the ‘BN Club’ or the Sarawak Workers Party (SWP), which is another BN-friendly party, if they were to be expelled from the party.

(The BN club was formed by expelled leaders of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), while SWP was formed in April this year by Larry Sng, the former Pelagus assemblyperson and a ‘blue-eyed boy’ of Abdul Taib.)

NONE Jerip ( right ) said: “We have not met yet. However, we have decided that we will stay together ‘one for all and all for one’ under BN as we have been doing.

“As to other issues, it has to be realised that the Registrar of Societies has not made any ruling on all irregularities of the Triennial Delegates Congress (TDC) and the delay was due to the impending general election.

“Therefore action (joining other parties) taken would be deemed irrelevant,” Jerip said.

Meanwhile, a CC member who did not wish to be named said that  it was certain that Wong is likely to be found ‘guilty’, which might lead him to be suspended from the party.

“If no action is taken against Wong, several CC members may either resign from the party or demand that the party leave the state BN,” he said, pointing out that they realised the impact of their action against Wong.

“We may lose all the seven seats, but it is better to lose the seats than for the party to lose its dignity and honour,” he added.

The writer, who uses a pseudonym, is based in Sarawak.