Within the Sarawak United People’s Party (Supp) circles in Kuching, Goh Leng Chua has often been seen as the ‘odd man out’. He can be extremely vocal on a lot of issues affecting the party and community in Kuching and had even ‘clashed’ with senior party leaders on a number of occasions.

goh leng chua 4 However, Goh is also a Supp loyalist - he continues to show a keen interest in the affairs of the party which he first joined in 1981.

The current advisor and former deputy chair of the Batu Lintang Supp branch says that is why he has never asked to be fielded as an electoral candidate or fought for high party positions.

“It’s easier that way. When something is not right, I have to say it’s wrong. It’s easier when there’s no position to protect,” he told ‘Uncensored’ talk show host Francis Paul Siah on Malaysiakini.tv recently.

Goh, 59, who now described himself as a retired lawyer, had also served for several terms as a councillor with the Kuching South City Hall.

Asked on the spirit of cooperation among BN component parties in Sarawak, Goh was quick to concede that “Supp has been sidelined” in some ways in apparent reference to the party’s recent loss of support in the state.

This Sarawak’s oldest political party (founded in 1959) lost eight seats in the 2006 state election, a loss Goh attributes to weaknesses in political communication within the BN, corruption, religious issues, land issues” and a host of problems which were left unresolved.

“This makes the people angry and Supp suffered as a result,” he said.

Goh agrees that “it’s not so much that DAP is strong, but that Supp is weak ...weak in the sense that it takes more energy to carry a policy.”

Politics is all numbers

The party veteran also explained that most of Supp representation comes from the urban areas, which have become concentrated in one place, and therefore Supp is receiving less support from rural areas.

Goh also felt that Supp is out of touch with the Sarawak public. In a system where “politics is all numbers”, Supp is having a hard time counting on numbers from the grassroots.

We have a problem, he admits, in reconnecting with the grassroots. We want “the people to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”

Asked if the people were happy, Goh answered “of course” diplomatically and ended with “it depends on who you ask.”

There has been an “economic turndown” on a global scale, he says. “I don’t think Malaysia or Sarawak is the exception.”

goh leng chua 3 Goh believes the party needs to undergo deep soul searching and return to the fundamental question of any political party that claims to represent the people. “We need to ask the question - what do we want?’”

“We want peace at home and on the street [and] economic security,” he answers himself. “We want to be treated as equal partners in the BN.”

Asked on the party leadership transition, Goh says that Supp is “looking for a successor” but personally, he feels that party leaders should be elected by the delegates and posts should not be handed down.

At the end of the interview, Goh was asked what he wanted to tell viewers.

"I would tell the people that we aren’t 'prey to the political tsunami' around us. The loss of the battle doesn’t mean the loss of the war.”

He stresses that “a political shift is not strong unless it faces a storm”, saying that difficult times and hardships are necessary for the fortification and general well-being of any party.

Goh ended on a more personal note, saying that it doesn’t matter to him who the next PM is.

At the end of the day, “I just want a plate of rice on my table.”