Dullie: Who is lying?

By Dullie Hj Marie

KOTA KINABALU - Sabah DAP Chairman Jimmy Wong Sze Phin must tell his KL bosses that it was he (Jimmy) who had insisted that SAPP form a negotiation panel to discuss with Sabah DAP on the seat sharing formula to fight the BN in the coming general elections.

There was never an issue of joining Pakatan. Afterall, it was DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang who had on Sept 16, 2008 at a DAP ceramah in Kota Kinabalu, declared a Pakatan Plus formula with SAPP.

Jimmy had also disclosed that the Sabah DAP panel consisted of Fred Fung, Dr. Edwin Bosi and Joan Goh. That was in April last year, soon after Jimmy had deposed Dr.Hiew King Cheu, the MP for Kota Kinabalu, as the Sabah DAP Chief. Jimmy and Fred Fung had met with our President Datuk Yong Teck Lee and spoke several times on the phone.

In fact, SAPP had wanted to discuss with Pakatan as a grouping as it will reduce confusion since there is no Pakatan committee in Sabah. But Jimmy had insisted that SAPP negotiate with DAP first. As a result, SAPP formed its negotiating team headed by myself and several other SAPP leaders.

After the public rudeness exhibited by Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Harvest Festival last May, the Sabah DAP dared not proceed to discuss with SAPP. Instead, Sabah DAP further its collusion with UMNO to attack SAPP, and eventually Dr.Hiew King Cheu confessed that his objective was to attack SAPP. This is not the first time that Sabah DAP has tried to split the opposition. After SAPP and PKR had agreed to a friendly contest to assess the situation at Batu Sapi in October 2010, DAP's Dr. Hiew had insulted both SAPP and PKR by calling the SAPP-PKR discussion as "coffee shop talk".

Nevertheless, SAPP appreciates the several meetings with PKR leaders, sometimes led by their National Vice President, YB Fuziah Salleh. I know because I was present. Our meetings, though private, are not secret. It is unlike the DAP mid-night meeting with the then PAS leader Hassan Ali, who was reported to have to change cars to avoid detection.

For the record, what SAPP President Datuk Yong said at Sandakan recently was that we are conscious of the peoples' wish to see a straight one-to-one fight between the combined opposition and the BN.

As a result, the formula most acceptable to the people is that SAPP shall re-contest the Elopura and Tanjong Papat state seats and let DAP contest the parliamentary seat. In the neighbouring parliamentary constituencies of Libaran and BatuSapi, with four state seats and two parliamentary seats, SAPP offers to contest only two of the seats, with priority given to Pakatan to select their choice seats. SAPP will contest the two seats that Pakatan does not wish to contest.

But SAPP must re-contest the Elopura and Tg. Papat seats which are currently held by turncoats Au Kam Wah and Raymond Tan Shu Kiah. From our feedback, the people are most relieved and happy with such a formula. But it seems that Tan Kok Wai just flew in to Sabah and destroyed whatever progress that has been made between SAPP and Pakatan, especially PKR.

My negotiation panel is still open to further discussions with other opposition parties in Sabah.

Dullie Hj. Marie is Sabah Progressive Part (SAPP) Treasurer General, Head of SAPP Negotiation Committee.