SAPP to make crucial decision on Wednesday

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party is expected to make a crucial decision Wednesday afternoon on its position in Barisan Nasional two months after declaring no confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

All indications are that the party chief Datuk Yong Teck Lee will steer his 36-member supreme council meeting beginning at 2pm to decide on pulling out of the coalition which the party joined in 1994.

If SAPP pulls out to throw its support behind Pakatan Rakyat, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan, the Tanjong Papat assemblyman and Elopura assemblyman Au Kam Wah are expected to resign.

Tan, the state Infrastructure Development Minister, is one of the three SAPP deputy presidents while Au, the Sabah Energy Corporation chairman, is the party Youth Chief.

Both Tan and Au are expected to attend the meeting which the party secretary general Datuk Richard Yong said Wednesday morning was to discuss party matters.

On whether the meeting will decide to pull out from Barisan, Richard said: “Our position within Barisan is always discussed at our meetings.”

While a decision on the pull out appears to be on the cards, several party members cautioned that the meeting might end up with only deciding on sending a letter to Barisan headquarters asking to make a stand on its position as SAPP had not been invited for six recent Barisan meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

Richard said that one or two supreme councillors have written in stating they were unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting. He said that SAPP’s two MPs - Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun and Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui - have indicated they will be at the meeting.

SAPP has two MPs and four assemblymen in the coalition. The other two SAPP assemblymen are assistant state Finance Minister Melanie Chia (Luyang) and Datuk Liew Teck Chan (Likas).

-The Star Online