GE13: Rumble in Foh Sang, Yong confronts rivals

Hiew King Cheu fled scene; Junz Wong sat frozen; Christina Liew ruffled while Chong Eng Leong could only mumble a meek denial

A first-person account by Alexander Chen

KOTA KINABALU: Fed up with the ‘guerrilla tactics’ of his rivals, in particular the DAP, SAPP chief, Datuk Yong Teck Lee did what any gentleman would do and confront them, face to face.

At the Foh Sang car park where Pakatan Rakyat was holding its ceramah Wednesday night, Yong did a surprise show-up, stunning his opponents who had been bad-mouthing him and the SAPP the whole night.

At six minutes past nine o’clock, coolly walking up to where Chong Eng Leong and other local PR leaders were, Yong confronted the former Senator, who had earlier, once again, implicated the ex-Chief Minister as being involved in Project IC (also known as Project Dr M) – where foreigners were allegedly given Malaysian identity cards.

(Pic above - Huge crowd at SAPP Kopitiam Ceramah, Foh Sang) Yong sat down next to Chong to get an explanation and the good old surgeon meekly said he did not implicate Yong and would go on stage again to make the denial.

The moment he saw Yong, a stunned Hiew King Chiu bolted to another corner of the car park, holding a mike and yelling Ini Kali Lah, Ini Kali Lah, while another DAP candidate, Junz Wong sat frozen to his seat, noticeably pale despite the poor lighting.

Junz, the DAP man facing Yong in Likas, had earlier in the day described his opponent as “a man with no integrity”.

But given the opportunity to tell that to Yong straight to his face, Junz must have wished that a hole could appear at that moment to swallow him up. He sat down quietly, a nervous fidgety wreck.

This caused someone in the crowd to snigger, “if like this how then is he going to perform at the State assembly (if elected), must less give a speech in a Dewan dominated by UMNO men, led by the indomitable Samsuddin (Yahya of Sekong)  the old adversary of Junz’ boss, Jimmy Wong”.

Yong also demanded that he be given the chance to go on stage to answer to all the lies his rivals had been making behind his back, but Fred Fung, the DAP man handling Hiew’s campaign refused, apparently on orders from his boss.

In his talk, the former Senator allegedly accused Yong of being involved in a scheme to issue identity cards to foreigners. When confronted Wednesday, he gave a feeble denial.

All this while, a female mc kept screaming into the microphone asking the deejay to play loud music and she was obliged when ‘gangnam’ style music came on the air, prompting Christina’s dance squad to go on stage.

Later Christina (PKR – Api Api) Edwin Bosi (DAP – Kapayan) and Hamid Ismail (PAS – Tanjung Aru) made their brief speeches before moving on to other places.

Throughout, Yong kept insisting he be allowed to go on stage to give his side of the story and to allow Eng Leong to make his clarification. But neither was allowed.

A couple of “tough guys” were at the side of Eng Leong to make sure he did not get to rise, while other hired guns stood nearby.

Police came in to cool tempers down and some 45 minutes later, Yong left, but not without telling Eng Leong that if PR did not allow him to clarify on their stage, he was always welcome to join the SAPP ceramah, some 100 meters away.

Chong Eng Leong never showed up.

An SAPP official is believed to have video-taped the entire proceeding, including recording Eng Leong’s denial about Yong being involved with Project IC.

One wonders why the police allowed two opposition ceramah to be held in the same area at the same time, knowing that it was potentially an explosive situation – knowing both sides were not on the same wavelength.

Later at his own party’s ceramah, Yong explained that he only wanted a chance to make a reply to the lies being spread about him and SAPP.

He said Sabah PKR leader, Chong En Leong was ready to go to the stage to clarify that Yong was not involved but the DAP elections director, Fred Fung did not allow it. Others like Hieu King Chiew and Christina Liew also refused to allow him to speak.

He told supporters that PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was in the know of Project IC in Sabah as he was the deputy prime minister in 1994 when he was Sabah Barisan Nasional elections director.

“Why are they blaming me when Anwar knows it all? Chong is so close to (former chief minister) Osu Sukam and he knows it all too,” Yong said.

Yong said SAPP will fight and win on the truth. – with additional reporting by Matthias Hermes and Linda Peters

Borneo Insider News