Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wants the internal problems of the Sabah-based Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and MCA to be resolved amicably soon in the interest of preserving harmony in the Barisan Nasional (BN)

coalition.

Expressing concern over the leadership crisis in the parties, the BN deputy chairperson said he had directed BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to discuss with these parties whether there was a possibility of reconciling or solving the problems and achieving understanding to mitigate them.

“We are very concerned about what is happening in LDP and some Chinese-based parties, SUPP in Sarawak and MCA in the peninsula.  

“Somehow or other, all these parties are facing very serious internal problems, including the LDP in Sabah. I have been informed about the serious internal problems they are facing, especially their AGM (annual general meeting),” he told reporters after performing the ground-breaking for a People’s Housing Programme (PPR) project in Kepayan Ridge, near Kota Kinabalu, today.  

Also present were Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan and State Local Government and Housing Minister Hajiji Mohd Noor.

Muhyiddin was asked whether the BN leadership would intervene to resolve the leadership crisis in the LDP, involving incumbent LDP president VK Liew and another faction led by his deputy, Chin Su Phin, and LDP secretary Teo Chee Kang.

LDP crisis comes to a boil

The LDP leadership crisis came to a boil recently after Teo announced that he would run for president.

Party president VK Liew then sacked Teo for allegedly violating the party’s constitution and failing to carry out instructions of the supreme council members.

Liew was quoted as asserting that the supreme council meeting on June 9 had decided that the posts of president and deputy president were not to be contested to avoid a split among members, and the minutes of the meeting were recorded by Teo, who is also the minister of special functions in the Chief Minister’s Department.

Muhyiddin said he had yet to be informed whether Tengku Adnan was successful in his mission to find an amicable solution to the problem.

Muhyiddin said it was not the policy of the BN to intervene in the internal matters of its component parties but added that some parties had in the past requested mediation by national leaders.

“On that premise, they must be able to achieve a certain understanding to resolve their problems because, at the end of the day, it is not just affecting their respective parties, it also putting the BN situation at stake,” he said. 

“This is because, when you face a crisis with less understanding and less cooperation, the image of the party in the eyes of the ‘rakyat’ (people) is not good as well and, in the long term, it is not beneficial for the BN,” he added.

- Bernama