KUCHING: Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei’s resignation from Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak probably stemmed from dissatisfaction with the party itself.
In pointing this out, Universiti of Malaya (UM) senior lecturer Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the party did not seem to welcome open internal and external criticisms and there was lack of freedom of speech in expressing the truth within the party.
“That is why it is very rare for people to see the party members voicing out their own opinions on the party’s leadership,” he told New Sarawak Tribune on Monday (July 27).
Awang Azman pointed out that, however, party leader Chong Chieng Jen, on the other hand, could freely express his voice using his capacity as the chairman of the state party.
Amongst the issues raised by Chong were the dateline for Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to obtain support to become the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition’s choice of prime minister and the state party’s stance to support Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as the prime minister.
“This only goes to show that Chong is moving away from the PH presidential council’s announcement to stick with Anwar Ibrahim as its choice.
“Chong, out of the blue, pushed the agenda of having a prime minister from East Malaysia, which is contradicting the party’s presidential council’s stand,” pointed out Awang Azman.
He also stated that Wong’s demission was an expression of disappointment on the coalition’s divided spirits when DAP announced its intention to get back the Batu Lintang seat which was contested by PKR, the party’s ally.
“His resignation may bring down the state party’s image and popularity and lead to a bigger split. Even some of the grassroot leaders such as Sanjan Daik and Edward Luak have resigned from the party.
“With all these issues, the party’s opportunity for the next state election is a little affected as confidence towards the party has declined.
“Even Wong himself admitted that the party’s credibility is affected because the promises made by the party during the last general election were not fulfilled,” said Awang Azman.
He added that DAP Sarawak’s image was negatively impacted even more after the recent quarrels with community leaders.
“This showed that the party has a hard time receiving criticisms but it’s not a problem for its leaders to criticise others.”
