Taib wants Wong

CM wants Wong in cabinet

by Johnson K Saai. Posted on April 22, 2011, Friday


CENTRE OF ATTENTION: Taib being interviewed by reporters after he chaired the state cabinet meeting.

KUCHING: Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said that no one can stop him from appointing Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh a cabinet minister.

Speaking to the media after chairing the Cabinet meeting here yesterday he asked: “What right do they have to say they agree or not agree to the representation of the Chinese community in the government?”

Taib was responding to SUPP Central Working Committee’s (CWC) objection to Wong’s re-appointment as a state minister and instead requested that the post be given only to its non-Chinese elected representative.

SUPP, which used to be the second biggest state BN component after Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), only won two Chinese-majority seats, namely Bawang Assan through its candidate Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and Datuk Lee Kim Shin in Senadin but retained all its Bumiputera majority seats of Bengoh, Simanggang, Engkilili and Opar.

In view of the party’s devastating defeats in Chinese majority seats, the party’s CWC decided that Wong should not accept any state cabinet post since the Chinese community had rejected their representation in the government.

“We need their representation in the government. I promised the Chinese that I want to help them get fair representation so I take what I can get and after all Soon Koh (Wong) was voted on BN ticket and not SUPP,” said Taib.

He added that he would try his best to get the Chinese community to be represented no matter how few seats they have got.

He stressed that it was the commitment of the Barisan Nasional to maintain a multiracial government because for a multiracial society to progress, the government must be multiracial no matter what happened.

“BN is not a marriage of convenience. It is not a coalition that assembles after the election to suit the situation thereafter. It is a kind of permanent coalition. They have a common manifesto…work together during the administration…work out what to do for the next election.

“They stand together during and after election. The government has to or at least try to ensure that no single community in the country is being left out because the moment you give it up, it is going to be bad for us,” he said.

He cited that in 1969, when Tun Abdul Rahman was prime minister, he kept MCA in the national cabinet although the party had no seats to ensure that all races were represented in the government.

Earlier Taib said he had yet to pick his deputy to replace SUPP president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan who lost his seat in the last state election, and that he would only think about it when the time comes.

“I will only think about it when doing the reshuffle. As to when it will be held, I will decide,” he said.

The chief minister also would not say whether the post would still be held by a SUPP state assemblyman as the party only managed to secure six of the 19 seats it contested in.