Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) vice-president Dr Chua Soon Bui has apparently ignored the party president’s advice to be mindful when dealing with federal leaders.

sapp chua soon bui nazri abdul aziz parliament 070708 01 Sapp head Yong Teck Lee likened this to “swimming with sharks” - but Chua took the plunge anyway, as revealed in press photographs of her with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz yesterday.

Today, Yong was rueful over both the meeting and the photographs, saying this “was unfortunate and has cast Sapp in a very bad light”.

“It’s as though Sapp has back-tracked from the no-confidence motion against the prime minister,” he said in a statement released this afternoon.

“Although Dr Chua never mentioned words to the effect that the proposed motion of no-confidence has been ‘dropped’ or ‘aborted’, her comments were misinterpreted (by the press).”

“This latest twist makes me sad that our noble struggle has been damaged in the eyes of the people whose hopes for a better future rest with Sapp.”

sapp eric majimbun Chua, the parliamentarian for Tawau, had held the meeting to explain her two-week absence and that of Sepanggar MP Dr Eric Majimbun (right) from parliament, particularly during a vote on a government motion on the increase in fuel prices.

BN tactics

Yong said Barisan Nasional (BN) is using Chua and deputy president Raymond Tan to split his party.

“At first, there were doubts as to why the BN generously gave a long period of 30 days to Sapp to reply the show-cause letter. Later it dawned on us that (this) was intended to give time to BN efforts to split Sapp and isolate (me).

“This is why the move by Parti Bersatu Sabah and LDP for immediate expulsion of Sapp from BN was not carried out. BN tacticians want Sapp to be split and (to lose) the support of the people before action is taken.”

yong teck lee and sapp Yong added that BN did not want to repeat its mistake of 1984 when it expelled Usno for opposing the federalisation of Labuan. In state elections the following year, BN was almost wiped out by PBS and Usno.

He cautioned that, however good Tan’s intentions may be, he could become easily awed by the immensity of federal political power.

“The fear of the stick and the lure of carrots are enough to overwhelm many people,” Yong said.