YONG ACTED ALONE

Friday, 20 June 2008

The Barisan Nasional (BN) Supreme Council has decided not to expel the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) as it believes the statement by its president, Yong Teck Lee, Wednesday (18 June) was not the stand of the party, said Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"As far as I know, it (Yong's statement) is not the stand of the party. The statement came from Yong Teck Lee personally. That's why we are not taking action against the party," said the Prime Minister, who is also the BN chairman, at a press conference after an emergency meeting of the BN Supreme Council, in Kuala Lumpur Thursday (19 June).

In Kota Kinabalu Wednesday, Yong, who was also a former Sabah Chief Minister, said the party had lost confidence in the Prime Minister and would support a motion on a vote of `no confidence' against Abdullah at the Dewan Rakyat sitting beginning Monday (23 June).

Bernama reported that Abdullah said it was up to SAPP to take whatever action against Yong for his statement.

"Whatever decision the party wants to make concerning the action of its president is up to the party," he said.

When asked whether the BN would take action against two SAPP MPs, Abdullah said actions would only be taken if they make similar statements in the Dewan Rakyat.
In his statement Wednesday, Yong said two SAPP MPs, Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) and Dr Chua Soon Bui (Tawau), would support the motion of no confidence.

"They have not yet made any statements in the Dewan Rakyat. If they had done so, then we can take actions because in the House, we have party discipline and the (government) whip.

"We will of course take action if they go against party discipline," he said, adding that BN had once taken action against a MP from MIC, as well as two BN assembly members in Penang.

"This is not the question of being afraid or not. The issue is, we need to make the correct decision. We cannot take a hasty decision against a party which have not yet made any decision on the matter.

"Otherwise, we will be seen as having taken an action without knowing whether the matter was really a decision made by the party or only made by its leader. That is important for us to consider.

"We have to be correct in wanting to take any kind of action against anybody or against institution or against any component party," he said.

Asked whether a show cause letter would be sent to the party, Abdullah said, "We have not asked them to show cause because they have not done anything wrong at the moment."

Abdullah said Thursday's meeting was important as it discussed an issue involving the head of a BN component party. (MySinchew)