KUCHING: The protracted row in the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) between the Sibu branch and the newly formed Dudong branch could come to an end when the two factions meet the party’s special panel headed by organising secretary Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui today.
The meeting, which is expected to be attended by five representatives from both factions at a hotel in Sibu, is a last-ditch effort by the party leadership to find an amicable solution to the problem.
If the meeting fails to break the deadlock, the only option would be to hold a special delegates’ conference.
Dudong assemblyman Datuk Dr Soon Choon Teck is at loggerheads with Sibu branch chairman Datuk Wong Soon Koh and his supporters.
Dr Soon irked Wong and other Sibu branch leaders when he went ahead to form the Dudong branch without their approval. He was elected the Dudong branch chairman on April 30.
The Wong-Soon feud over the Dudong branch’s formation, which has dragged on for about two years, has prompted 21 of the party’s 43 branches to jointly request the party about 10 days ago to convene a special delegates’ conference to resolve the impasse.
The meeting today is a last-ditch bid to solve the problem without convening the special conference.
Dr Soon, meanwhile, has questioned the sincerity of the Sibu branch leaders in appealing to him to return to its fold.
“Are they sincere in urging me to return to Sibu branch, saying ‘we are all family’, when they sued me for RM15mil for defamation?” asked the state Assistant Minister for Housing, who was also the former Sibu branch secretary.
Wong and a group of leaders and members have filed two legal suits against Dr Soon for allegedly defaming them in press statements issued by the latter.
Dr Soon said he would step down if the conference rejected the proposed resolutions.
The proposed resolutions for the conference are to formally endorse the set up of the Dudong branch, recognise Dr Soon as its chairman and his executive committee elected on April 30.
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