LDP will be able to overcome challenges – Yong

KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Senator Datuk Yong Wui Chung is confident that the party will be able to overcome the challenges of being in the opposition with the strong foundation built over the past 29 years.

Although the party lost in the last general election, Yong believed that the party only needed to find the right point of leverage to pull itself back up again.

He said this when officiating at the LDP Annual Joint Conference of Central Youth and Women Movements at Kian Kok Middle School here yesterday.

He said the overwhelming response in the party elections this year had exceeded his expectations.

“As LDP is no longer part of the ruling party, we have lost all ministerial, governmental, councillor and Kapitan appointments,” Yong said.

But, Yong said his senatorship was spared because it was an appointment by the Yang diPertuan Agong, albeit having no more government funding with less than two years of his tenure remaining.

Nonetheless, he believed that LDP has built a strong foundation over the past 29 years and the party could certainly weather through the challenges.

He said the party election this year was important to set a new direction for LDP.

“The new leadership will have to chart the future direction of the party for the next five to 10 years,” he said.

Yong also thanked the party for recommending him for senatorship, which allowed him to highlight various livelihood issues affecting the people, such as smoking in public, drug abuse, lack of aerobridge facility by AirAsia, unemployment, tourism and basic infrastructure.

Earlier, Yong said that both the Youth and Women Movements were important wings in the party to execute major activities organized by LDP.

He said the Central Youth and Women Movements have successfully put together various events in the last five years, including the annual party conference, fund-raising dinner for LDP's education fund, singing competition and charity runs.