UPP unhappy with ‘traitor’ tag

KUCHING: United People’s Party ( UPP) is contemplating taking legal action against those calling its members ‘ traitors’.

Its president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh said yesterday they viewed the accusation seriously.

“How can they say we ‘ pan tang’, meaning traitor to the party and men of no principle in Chinese,” he told reporters when expressing his disappointment at Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) for not showing up at a luncheon meet arranged by Temenggong Lu Kim Yong last week.

Lu, who is UPP advisor, initiated the supposed-to-be first meeting between SUPP and UPP to enable key leaders from both parties to discuss cooperation to reunite the Chinese community in facing the next state election.

“We are not guilty for we are not traitors as our actions are intended at protecting and preserving the party’s dignity and image,” Wong said.

He reiterated that their move to bring their dispute in SUPP to the Registrar of Societies ( ROS) showed that they stood firmly by their principle and love for the party, so there was a need to reinstate or restore the party’s dignity and image.

“It was due to a series of irregularities and wrongdoings committed by SUPP in the 2011 party election that we see as unfair,” he explained.

“So please don’t say that we are traitors. Moreover, a lot of members in UPP now are new faces so how can we be traitors,” he added.

According to Wong, the reason key leaders from SUPP did not turn up at the luncheon was that they could not sit down and discuss with the party’s ‘traitors’.

“We should not allow others to disrespect the party and underestimate our ability. UPP is a force to be reckoned with,” he said.

Earlier on, Wong launched the UPP Padungan branch office and website at Jalan Pending here which was attended by Padungan branch chairman Datuk Wung Heok Hoi, deputy chairman Dr Zhao Chii Ming and committee members.

Also present were Opar assemblyman Ranum Mina and Batu Kawa branch chairman Pemanca Liu Thian Leong.