LDP to rebuff any offer now: Liew

Kota Kinabalu: The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Supreme Council has decided to reject any offer to compensate its loss in the State Cabinet when the party was not considered in the recent minor re-shuffle but saw its position in the Barisan Nasional (BN) reversed.

President Datuk VK Liew said the Supreme Council felt that Chief Minister-cum-State BN Chairman Datuk Seri Musa Aman had made a decision that had disturbed the equilibrium of power sharing that was practised by the coalition all this while.

"We find that we (LDP) have been mistreated not by the BN but by the Chief Minister if he has acted against the interests of the BN," he said, adding that he was sure other component parties, which did not benefit from the re-shuffle, were also jittery.

"And we find the reason given to retain our former Vice President (Datuk Peter Pang) who defected and only joined Gerakan less than two days and was appointed a Minister to be absolutely absurd.

"We do not have to elaborate on his reason to give two Deputy Chief Minister posts to a single component party because it is illogical," he said when met after chairing the more-than-two-hour LDP Supreme Council emergency meeting on Saturday night.

Liew, who is a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said: "We feel that he has given us a bitter pill to swallow and any attempt to dilute the bitterness by offering a sweetener is merely an afterthought and not workable given the present set of circumstances".

At the same time, he said the invitation to discuss the matter was made after the decision was made. "Therefore it is redundant".

He said there were several issues discussed during the meeting but the recent minor re-shuffle where LDP was not included in the State Cabinet and Pang's retention in Cabinet was on the back of the mind of most the  Supreme Council members.

"Many of the members voiced out and some very emotional and even forceful to the extent calling us (LDP leaders) to review our position in the Government as well as the BN as many felt that LDP has been sidelined despite being in the BN for so long since 1989," he said.

However, Liew who is Sandakan MP, said he was able to urge the members to rise above the occasion and look at the issue objectively in the interest of the people, state and country.

"And I told them that despite the animosity between the State leadership and past and present LDP leaders, it must not rule our mind and clout our judgment.

"Unlike some people we must not be too personal," he said.

Asked if LDP was calling for Pang's resignation, Liew said LDP felt that the decision made by the Chief Minister was irreparable and "that should remain with him until he sees it fit to change".

"We feel that the CM should be accountable for disrupting the equilibrium of power sharing in the BN," he said. "We reserve our position," he said when asked if LDP was seriously thinking about its position in the BN coalition.