Give priority to housekeeping, Dr Jerip tells SUPP

KUCHING: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party ( SUPP) should keep its ‘house’ in order so that the result of the just- concluded 13th General Election does not affect its performance in the 2016 state election.

It should admit that it faced serious setback during the election, when it only won one of the seven parliamentary seats it contested, advised Dr Jerip Susil, Assistant Minister of Public Health.

“It is not too late to keep the party in order and we do not want the 2013 general election result to be reflected in 2016,” he reiterated when asked to comment on the party’s poor outing in the 13th general election.

The Bengoh assemblyman thus called on members to save the party and work on bringing back confidence and getting more support from the people, especially from among the Chinese community.

“It is not that it is not salvageable and there must be a damage control and the need on the next plan of action to ensure the survival of the party,” he suggested.

Dr Jerip also called on all party members to be involved and work as a team to rejuvenate the 50-year-old party, one of the oldest political parties in Malaysia.

“We must keep the house in order first and there is a major clearing to do,” the concerned SUPP member said.

On the victory of Datuk Richard Riot Jaem in Serian, he said he was not surprised by it but regretted that Riot would be the only SUPP representative in Parliament.

“We were confident of Serian and Richard winning the seat; Barisan Nasional and SUPP should recognise his contribution and performance,” he said.

At the same time, he urged SUPP members to support their sole representative even though he is a Bidayuh, and use him to handle federal matters.

He also said they must use their state leaders like Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh to help them on state matters and bring up their needs to the government.

“Not all bridges are broken and we still have leaders to represent us and also the Chinese community, he said.

In the May 5 13th general election, Riot defeated Edward Andrew Luak of Democratic Action Party (DAP) and State Reform Party (STAR) candidate Johnny Aput by a majority of 13,151 votes. He obtained 19,494 votes against 6,343 and 390 votes garnered by Edward and Johnny respectively.

SUPP lost Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sarikei, Lanang and Sibu to DAP, and Miri to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).