KUCHING, Nov 15: Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong has challenged State Legal Counsel JC Fong to stand as a candidate in her constituency for the coming Sarawak election due in 2021.
In a press statement today, Yong proposed to Fong that this is the way he could vindicate their issues.
“If he (Fong) wants to have the issue vindicated, I challenge him to stand as a candidate under GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) in Pending in the coming state election.
“I am elected by the voters in Pending, I do my duty as the representative of the voters in Pending. Let the voters in Pending be the ultimate judge on this matter,” said Yong.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) lawmaker said as an elected state assemblyman, it is her duty to bring up issues that concerned the people.
As for Fong’s challenge to bring the matter to the Court of Law, Yong said it is her rights to speak in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly without fear and favour.
She believed that the judge of her performance on what she said in the august House is “the people of Sarawak in general and voters in Pending in particular”.
“On the issue of conflict of interest involving the member of the Petros’ (Petroleum Sarawak Bhd) Board of Directors, I have no intention to fight JC Fong in the Court of Law.
“If he is of the view that what I said is wrong, he, as the Sarawak State Legal Advisor, is in the position to have his defence or argument read out by any one of the state ministers during the state assembly sitting to refute my statement.
“Why he did not do so?” said Yong when responding to Fong, who called for a face-to-face meeting with her today.
During the DUN sitting on Nov 6, Yong when debating the state 2020 budget, had claimed Fong’s daughter to be involved in controversial business dealings.
The related contents of her speech were expunged by DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar who made the decision as he deemed that Yong’s speech had cast aspersions and improper motive on the character Fong and Fong’s daughter, especially the said individuals were not there to defend themselves.
Yong also held a press conference on Nov 12 on the sidelines of the DUN sitting, claiming that she was ambushed and harassed by Fong’s wife who had sought Yong out in the DUN complex for making allegations against the daughter.
Following that incident, Yong claimed in the press conference to be distressed, “could not sleep” and “emotionally blackmailed and manipulated”. She thus called for tighter security at DUN.
In face of multiple allegations of Yong, Fong challenged Yong to meet him at the DUN complex cafeteria at 3pm today for a face-to-face session to either waive her parliamentary immunity against legal proceedings or to repeat her recent accusations against him outside DUN today.
Members of the media and the public were also invited to witness. Yong did not turn up for the meeting.
“I lament that what happened (today) is a sad day for our parliamentary democracy when an assemblywoman, under the protection of parliamentary immunity, can make false and defamatory allegations against other persons and yet denied them the right to seek justice by waiving her immunity.
“If that is the political culture prompted by DAP in our ‘New Malaysia’, then God help us and save this country,” Fong told reporters. — DayakDaily
