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Clearly See was unhappy, says professor

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See Chee How

KUCHING: Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How quitting Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is a clear message that he was unhappy with the party, said political analyst Professor James Chin.

The University of Tasmania academic said the latter may have been unhappy with the party for quite some time.

“One of the reasons See joined PSB was because he was not getting anywhere with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

“See and Ba’Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian (former PKR lawmaker) were promised a lot of things before they jumped over to PSB.

“They wanted to join a Sarawak based opposition party and they thought that PSB was doing very well.

“By doing well, it does not mean that the party is going to win and form the government, but having to win a lot more seats during the state election. So, I think this (winning less seats) sort of bothered See,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.

Chin is also of the opinion that Baru Bian could be the next one to leave PSB.

“But I think they are positioning themselves because with the bad performance of PSB, if they don’t make a move now, they may be wiped out in the next state election.

“But in this case, See has won the Batu Lintang seat under different parties (under PKR then PSB). So it is quite an interesting move,” he said.

He added another reason why See quit PSB was because of the recently passed anti-hopping bill in Parliament.

“I’m sure Sarawak will follow suit at the state-level on the anti-hopping bill as well. So for See, might as well jump, anywhere, why not?,” said Chin.

Meanwhile, another political analyst Dr Lee Kuok Tiung said previously when See was sacked from PKR and he decided to join PSB, it was to find a political platform to continue his political career.

“However, the interesting thing is that there will be some parties who wonder See’s decision was in view of the recently passed anti-hopping bill.

“Another interesting point is Article 17 of the Sarawak Constitution where Article 17 (7) reads, ‘Any person who has voluntarily given an undertaking to the Speaker in writing that he will not resign his membership from the political party for which he stood or to which he belonged when he is elected to the Dewan Undangan Negeri, shall, if he resigns from the political party after being elected, be disqualified in the interest of public integrity and morality from continuing to be a member of the Dewan Undangan Negeri with effect from the date he resigned from the political party.

“So, the question arises whether he will lose his position as assemblyman,” said Dr Lee, who is also the senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

See’s resignation was announced by State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Speaker Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar on Sunday (Aug 14) after receiving See’s resignation letter as member of PSB dated Aug 12.

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