By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, June 6: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian today revealed that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will announce something major after Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
However, he did not go any further, preferring to keep it under wraps.
“Anything else, after Hari Raya, CM (chief minister) will make a big announcement. Then we will work on it,” said Dr Sim, who is also Minister of Local Government and Housing.
He said this when reporters asked him whether SUPP’s 60th anniversary was only about the ‘raising of party flag’.
The state’s oldest political party celebrated its 60th anniversary yesterday, and it is the tradition of SUPP to raise the party flag to celebrate its anniversary. This led to certain quarters commenting that the party should take some drastic measures to rejuvenate instead of performing the ‘mundane’ raising of flag year in, year out.
“It is a one-year celebration, not a one-off celebration. So, in this one-year celebration, we will roll out all sorts of programmes, and it is for others to see what we are doing for the rest of the year.
“Don’t forget, 60 years, as far as the Chinese and Buddhists are concerned, it is (the completion of) five cycles.
“After five cycles, it is rebirth. So, this is a one-year celebration,” said Dr Sim, when met by the press boys at the Chief Minister’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) today.
Dr Sim added that the series of programmes to be rolled out this one year would be revealed “as we go along because we have 53 branches, and we want to work together with all the branches”.
On whether he had the confidence to wrest back all its lost seats in the next state election, which is due in 2021, Dr Sim replied that in politics, one year is a long time and, thus, impossible to predict what will happen as of now.
“We always work very hard. In politics, one year is too long, let along predicting what is to happen in one year,” he said as a matter-of-factly. — DayakDaily
