By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Nov 25: Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has no intention of interfering into Sabah’s politics and the recent visit of its president Dato Sri Tiong King Sing who is also Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, was simply an effort to carry out his ministerial duties and engage with local communities
In stating this, PDP youth chief David Yeo pointed out that recent social media posts have maliciously mischaracterised the official visit of Tiong, with deliberate attempt to associate the latter’s ministerial duties with the Sabah Election, including fabricating allegations of “political campaigning” or “candidate endorsement,” and forcing unrelated matters into a political narrative intended to mislead the public and distort the truth.
“While PDP Youth has no interest in responding to baseless speculation, we have a responsibility to clarify the facts and ensure that the public is not manipulated by individuals with ulterior motives,” said Yeo in a statement.
He explained that Tiong’s agenda focused on tourism industry development, engaging with stakeholders to strengthen federal-state cooperation, and ensuring continued federal government support and follow-up on key initiatives. Such cross-state official visits, Yeoh said, are standard practice nationwide.
“Even during local elections, the administrative, research, and consultation work of the Ministry neither should nor will be suspended. Attempting to portray routine official duties as political activity is baseless and does not withstand scrutiny,” said Yeo.
He said during the Sabah visit, Tiong conducted dialogue sessions with stakeholders to under challenges facing by the local industry players, including industry bottlenecks, service quality, tourism product, flight route expansion, community participation, and enforcement coordination. Apart from this event, Tiong was also invited by local Iban community groups to attend a dialogue on Cultural Tourism and Homestay Programs.
“These are normal ministerial functions, yet certain parties deliberately misrepresent them as political manoeuvres. Deliberately framing them as political signals is a textbook example of misinterpretation and distortion,” stressed Yeo who explained that Tiong’s acknowledgement of Merotai candidate Datuk Ruji Ubi was because the latter happened to present at the dialogue as an experienced civil servant with administrative capabilities who could assist in promoting local culture and tourism development.
He said the acknowledgement was a professional assessment based on official cooperation, not a political endorsement.
“If even recognizing a civil servant’s competence is to be twisted into political positioning, then all professional judgments will be maliciously politicized, an unreasonable and unhealthy precedent. The overreaction from certain parties only reveals their own political projections rather than fact-based judgment,” said Yeo.
On Tiong’s attendance at a dinner hosted by a non-governmental organization (NGO), Yeoh said this was also a normal aspect of official duty and community engagement.
“His attendance was based on protocol and professional obligation. However, as a public event, anyone could attend including candidates, supporters, local leaders, and campaigning parties. These circumstances entirely beyond the Minister’s control. Should the Minister have barred people from attending? Screened guests one by one? Refused photographs or videos? Rejected public interaction? Such expectations are unreasonable, unrealistic, and contrary to the nature of public events.
“Twisting these uncontrollable circumstances into claims of ‘showing support’, ‘endorsement’ or ‘sending signals’ is not only illogical but also unfairly harsh. Therefore, please refrain from ‘wildly exercising rich imagination’ and stop attributing circumstances beyond the Minister’s control as grounds for accusation.”
He urged all parties to base their views on facts, reject the spread of false narratives, and avoid allowing malicious speculation to damage the long-established solid cooperation between the Federal government and Sabah. —DayakDaily
