KUCHING: Being absent from the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting was merely political grandstanding by the Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), said Pelagus assemblyman Wilson Nyabong Ijang.
He said that the absence was expected of the party president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Assan) who is a former second finance minister.
“He should not have been absent. As a former second finance minister and a state assemblyman for so many years, he is not a stranger to financial procedures,” he told reporters after the one-day sitting yesterday.
Wilson thought that Wong had always known that such a stunt was not right, but he did it anyway just to score some brownie points and hopefully convince the public that he was right since he was once a second finance minister.
“On the passing of the supplementary Bills, I believe that whether or not the four members from PSB (Wong’s party) would join us was not an issue,” he said.
Apart from Wong, three other PSB members were also absent. They are Datuk Ranum Mina (Opar), Johnical Rayong Ngipa (Engkilili) and Datuk Tiong Thai King (Dudong).
Wilson added that as Wong knew what was inside the government, some people tended to believe him.
“Of course, some will believe him since it is no secret that he held a position inside the government in the past, which gives him an advantage to gain some points at the expense of the government. To counter this, the higher ups in the Chief Minister’s Office will issue a statement to explain that issue,” he said.
Wilson also wondered what the PSB members gained as members of the august House if they did not attend the sitting when the rest of the opposition was present despite their political differences.
Lo Khere Chiang (Batu Kitang) also expressed his disappointment over Wong’s absence from the sitting.
“As politicians, we pledged to serve the people through this assembly. The thought of Wong being absent saddens me as he was not here to support the programmes of the same government that he used to be a part of,” he said.
He was supportive of the current Second Finance Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas who stated that Wong should know that the RM2.55 billion for the Sarawakku Sayang Special Aid came from a contingency fund.
“We do have such a fund and this is the truth,” he said in response to Wong’s claim that the state government did not have it.
“We all know that Sarawak financial status is very sound. We have the biggest reserve in the whole country.”
