LDP wants to be responsible opposition party — Chin
KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has not said anything about joining the ruling State Government led by Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), said its acting president, Datuk Chin Su Phin.
Chin also denied making sweet talk about Warisan with the intention of joining the new administration.
He said he was merely speaking the truth about the policies and measures that the federal and state governments have done right, particularly the anticorruption efforts, in his speech when officiating at the two joint LDP divisional conferences recently.
Chin said LDP aspires to be a responsible and constructive opposition party.
“As a responsible opposition party, we will support good policies introduced by the government. At the same time, we will speak up against government policies that do not benefit the people. For instance, I have emphasized in one of the divisional conferences that moving AirAsia’s operations back to Terminal 2 of Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) was not a good idea,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Chin was commenting on Warisan supreme council member Martin Tommy’s statement that the ruling party was not keen to accept LDP into the State Government as the latter had suffered a humiliating defeat in the last general election.
Martin, who is also the political secretary to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law), Datuk Liew Vui Keong, said that LDP had lost its bargaining power when they lost all its contested seats during the 14th general election (GE14). He had also said that Chin was not a trustworthy politician as the latter had campaigned against Warisan in the last general election.
Chin said the party had never said anything about joining the Warisan-led State Government and was perplexed with the statement that Warisan was not interested in accepting LDP into its fold.
Moreover, Chin said LDP was well aware that the party did not have bargaining power after having lost all its contested seats in GE14.
He said the people have decided on a change of government in the last election.
“Despite losing all our seats, I am happy to see change happening in Malaysia,” he remarked.
However, Chin said it was unfair and presumptuous to take his words out of context and interpret it as LDP wanting to join the State Government.
“Perhaps, someone may be worried that our party will work with Warisan one day,” he said.
Be as it may, Chin said LDP was a party that upheld its principles.
“Since we chose to contest under Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE14, we, of course, campaigned against the then opposition during the election.”
Although having lost all its seats, Chin said LDP, the only local party in Sabah, was still being supported and respected by the people as it still held on to its principles.
He said he was in fact surprised to learn that many young people were willing to join LDP even though the party was now in the opposition, and added that the members have not deserted the party after GE14.
“We are even expecting a tough contest for the supreme council posts in the upcoming party election,” he said.
Chin reiterated that LDP supported the federal and state governments’ anti-corruption policy, which require the concerted effort of the people as well. He hoped that the people would lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if they encounter any officers who deliberately give them a hard time in approving applications.
“Anyone who does not have the courage to approach the MACC can contact LDP, or me, instead,” Chin said.
He said even ministers who are involved in corrupt practices should be taken to justice.
Presently, Chin said LDP is not in a rush to align itself with other political parties.
He also said that it was premature to evaluate the performance of the new State Government which had only been in power for a few months.
Nonetheless, he believed that the people would continue to vote for the Warisan-led State Government if the latter demonstrated a fair and corruption-free administration.
For now, he said LDP would work on strengthening the party to face the next general election.
“After all, LDP is still the only local party that has earned the respect and acceptance of the people,” Chin remarked.