PETRA JAYA: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and its splinter party, the United People’s Party (UPP), yesterday ended their six-year conflict and pledged to work together in facing the 14th General Election.
SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian and UPP president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh signed a memorandum of understanding, in which the two parties agreed to unite under a single entity based on the BN spirit.
UPP also agreed to contest as a BN component party in GE14, and not as a BN direct candidate.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Abang Openg, who witnessed the exchange of MoUs between the party leaders, said cooperation between the two parties would strengthen BN’s position in the election.
More importantly, he added, the cooperation between the Sarawak Chinese-dominant parties would reinforce the state government’s efforts to reclaim its rights under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
“The two parties were established with the aim of moving
in the same direction to contribute towards the state’s development.
“We can no longer march separately to a different tune as the main focus is BN.
“We need to move in tandem in developing the state and fight for the people’s wellbeing,” he said at Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s headquarters in Jalan Bako here.
He said he was amazed to see the team spirit demonstrated by Dr Sim dan Wong in setting aside their differences to work for BN and Sarawak.
However, he said the election candidates from both parties had not been discussed yet.