SIBU: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Dudong chairman Wong Ching Yong stressed that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not deserve an apology for the wrong decisions and measures that he had done during his 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Wong said this in response to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at Dap ‘ceramah’ here on Sunday night.
Lim had called on the people in Sarawak to forgive Tun Dr Mahathir for the wrong decisions and measures that he had made when he was the premier.
Wong therefore gave an incident on why the people in the state should not forgive Dr Mathathir for the wrong decisons he had made previously.
“In reply to Lim Guan Eng, we must look
back at history. In 1999, the Reformacy movement which was initiated by Anwar Ibrahim became a serious threat to Umno in the 1999 General Election (GE). Subsequently members of Chinese guilds and associations during a meeting presented a memoir called Suqui. The members of Chinese guilds and associations asked and requested Dr Mahathir to consider the appeal of the Chinese guilds that the country be ruled fairly and in accordance to the law.
“They also requested Dr Mahathir to consider recognising Unified Examination Certificate (UEC),” he recalled.
For the sake of the preparation for 1999 general election, Wong said that Dr Mahathir agreed and even commented that the requests in ‘Suqui’ were fair one.
“The Chinese community gave overwhelming support to BN led by Mahathir which resulted in it successfully retained the two-third majority from the election.
“However after the election, Dr Mahathir summoned the members of Suqui delegation, describing its people as having the mentality of the communist and holding him at ransom including accusing them of arm twisting tactic,” he said.
Thus, from this historical event, he stressed that Dr Mahathir is a man who did not honour his promise.
Wong, therefore, also wanted Guan Eng to stop telling Sarawakians what to do and put his priority in governing the Penang government.
This is because, he said since the then Pakatan Rakyat (PH) took over Penang in 2008, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Penang has dropped to Number 4.
Also not long ago, he said it was revealed that many foreign companies were closing down the companies and withdrawing their investment from Penang.
On separate issue, Wong explained some of the work that they had conducted for the Chinese education.
“We have met board of directors of Kiew Nang primary school. And the board of directors requested SUPP to apply to the state government for school building fund.
“We met the board twice and I’m happy to say that we may have some positive development from the state government regarding the request,” he explained.
SUPP deputy president II Chieng Buong Toon and BN candidate for P211 Lanang Kelvin Kong were among those present at the press conference.
