PM lends an ear to Supp chief

Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today opened the Sarawak United People's Party's (Supp) 21st triennial delegates conference in Kuching in a somewhat subdued atmosphere because of the current economic gloom.

Abdullah flew in earlier in the morning specifically to open the three-day TDC that started yesterday at the party headquarters in a street named after founder Supp president and former federal minister Ong Kee Hui in the heart of the city. He is scheduled to leave in the afternoon for a function in Johore.

The TDC is held under the shadows of major electoral upsets following the May 2006 state election, and the party itself has seen continuing internal squabbles after the blame game started, but is seen by observers as rather slow to respond to demand for changes.

But Supp president Dr George Chan, who is also one of the state's two deputy chief ministers, touched on this in his opening speech, but said the party would not be discouraged or disheartened by the 2006 results and has taken steps to recruit many new members.

He also said every single member would be given a chance to speak out in the party 'like in the old days again.'

Chan called on party members to put aside personal differences and close ranks as the party could not afford to continue to be disunited.

A noticeable absence from the opening ceremony is Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is also the state BN chairperson.

Chan told the delegates that the chief minister had apologised for his absence as he had other matters to attend to. He did not elaborate.

According to a Supp source, Taib's wife Laila is said to be suffering from an indisclosed medical problem and the couple flew out of the state for either Singapore or Australia to enable Laila to receive treatment.

The Supp chief told the prime minister in the presence of some 1,000 delegates, observers and guests that Sarawak is still lagging behind and needs more funds for development projects, especially for Sarawak Corridor for Renewal Energy (Score) projects, to help the state realise the 2020 Vision.

Increased oil and gas royalties?

On his way down from the airport earlier, he had mentioned this to the PM who informed him that he (Abdullah) understood Sarawak's needs but at the moment the country is facing an economic crisis.

Chan told the PM that he hoped more funds for development could come as increased allocations under the Malaysia Development Plan or in the form of increased royalties from oil and gas revenue.

The DCM said he realised the federal government's present financial positon and that Sarawak would continue to be understanding.

In his 25-minute speech, Abdullah, in responding to the request for additional funding for development projects in Sarawak, said there were worrying economic indicators but reiterated the government's belief the country would not go into recession on the basis that it had introduced a RM7 billion stimulus package.

However, the PM also said that Malaysians should stand together during this difficult times and not make things worst to face the onerous challenges ahead to save Malaysia.

"We must all stand together to save Malaysia," he said, adding that component parties should not be self serving, thinking about what they wanted, but more importantly about what others as well.

A senior journalist present interpreted this as telling the Supp chief that he (Chan) should not just be thinking about making demands for his own party but also what other component parties also needed.

Leaders of major national and state BN component parties were present.

Meanwhile at the Supp Youth conference yesterday, Sih Hua Tong was elected new youth leader when he beat Supp Sibu Youth chief, Joseph Chieng Jin Ek in the party election yesterday.

Sih, 44, the Batu Lintang Youth chief, garnered 44 votes from the 72 central committee members as against 27 votes polled by the 33-year-old Chieng in the two-cornered fight.

Incumbent Alan Sim, who led the Supp Youth wing for two consecutive terms, did not seek re-election at the party TDC.