The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), which is Sarawak’s oldest political party, is in real danger of being deregistered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) following complaints of irregularities during the party branch elections in December last year.

“We are prepared for any eventually, because we see what is coming,” said Dr Jerip Susil, a spokesperson for the faction aligned to Wong Soon Koh, the Sibu branch chairperson and a senior minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

“We are aware of the consequences and right from the beginning this is what we warned them about, that they must run the party election with propriety in accordance with the rules of the party.

NONE “(But) they had refused to take heed and we will not be part of it and are staying away from many of the non-compliances,” said Jerip ( left ), the Assistant Minister of Public Health.

Jerip, together Wong (Bawan Assan assemblyperson), Ranum Mina (Opar), Francis Harden (Simanggang), Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili) and the MP for Sibu Tiong Thai King and their supporters, had boycotted the triennial delegates conference (TDC).

Wong was supposed to challenge Peter Chin for the presidency of the party, but withdrew at last minute due to alleged manipulations of the SUPP branch elections.

Chin, who is Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, won the party top post without being challenged.

Asked to comment  on Wong’s statement that the legality of the party’s triennial delegates’ conference had yet to be determined, Jerip said: “Warnings about the deregistration of SUPP have been given over and over to the party leaders, but they fell on deaf ears.

“The same group of people who want to be in control have lost the mandate of their electorate and have taken party matters into their own hands.  

“Hence the potential deregistration is due to their lack of taking heed to our warning. They failed to take remedial steps to prevent it from happening.  They have been too blinded in wanting to take power in the party without due regard to the rule of law.

“We are prepared for any eventually because we see what is coming,” he said, pointing out that they will continue to serve all Sarawakians as wakil rakyat (elected reps) in BN and continue to seek advice for further direction with regard to party matters.

Jerip went further to explain that all decisions made by the current leadership would be illegal and had told them to refrain from making any major decisions.

“As far as the decision to nominate the candidates is concerned, it rests on the chief minister and prime minister who emphasise on winnable candidates.

“We abide by that and we make recommendations based on these criteria of grassroots feedback. We don’t favour anyone. So such BN-SUPP candidates will be neutrally considered,” he said.

Director-general: Probe into TDC still on

Meanwhile, Wong said he had contacted the ROS director-general Abdul Rahman Othman, who confirmed that the probe into SUPP triennial delegates conference was still on.

NONE Wong ( right ) had contacted Abdul Rahman to clear the air over the controversy surrounding the election probe by ROS.

“Abdul Rahman told me the party could only carry out ‘usual business’ while the probe was on.  With these words, the claim that SUPP’s election last year was legal should be put to rest,” Wong had said.

Recently, SUPP president Peter Chin had said that he received a letter from the ROS on March 26 stating that the election last year was deemed legal unless the ROS probe concluded it was not.

Wong said that the letter from ROS dated April 3 to him and Chin had indicated that while the probe was on SUPP could only carry out ordinary business.

The phrase ‘ordinary business’ has now become the contention between the two rival factions.

According to sources, SUPP’s problem is very much similar to the woes faced by Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak in 2004, resulting in it being deregistered.

They said that the ROS had made his decision to give the party a show-cause letter why it should not be deregistered, but had been told to hold on because of the general election as the decision would have some bearing, especially in seven parliamentary seats that the party would be contesting.

“There is no way the party can escape from being deregistered,” they said.