PM still does not inspire SAPP
Malaysiakini, 7 July.
Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) has made it clear that it has not changed its stand on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Secretary-general Richard Yong in a press statement stated that “the party’s stand on Sapp’s loss of confidence in the PM remains”.
He faxed a statement to Malaysiakini following newspaper reports today quoting the party’s Tawau MP and vice-president Dr Chua Soon Bui as indicating that the party has dropped its plan to submit the motion.
Yong said the party would file the motion when the time is right, but “not at the moment in order not to fall into the trap of some racist opportunists especially in view of the current volatile situation in the country”. The supreme council dropped a bombshell last month when it decided by consensus at a special meeting to support or move such a motion.
This was prompted by what it called “the failure of the federal government to address a number of longstanding and critical issues facing Sabah, particularly the issue of illegal immigrants and the Projek IC or Projek Mahathir”.
Chua and the party’s Sepanggar MP, Dr Eric Majimbun, had reportedly met Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.
They explained their two-week absence from parliament, especially during the crucial vote on a government motion on the increase of fuel price.
sapp chua soon buiComments subsequently attributed to Chua in the media implied that - since the federal authorities are taking steps to address thorny issues in Sabah - the party would drop the no-confidence motion.
Yong, however, said Chua has already issued a clarification she had never said the party has dropped the proposal.
