No chance for UPP to be BN member?

KUCHING, Sept 8, 2014: Any hope of United People's Party (UPP) to be a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) is as good as zero, now that Prime Minister Najib Razak is fully giving his support to Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP).

UPP, led by former SUPP Sibu branch chief Wong Soon Koh, is a break-away group of SUPP and now it wants to be a BN component party.

But SUPP,  together with SPDP and PRS, strongly object to any application by UPP. On the other hand, PBB, the dominant component of the State BN, appears to be supportive of UPP.

At the opening of the SUPP's triennial general meeting (TGM) today, Najib made it plain clear that he is all for SUPP, and there is no doubt about it.

"I will stand by SUPP because I believe in the politics of principle," he said to the thunderous applause of the SUPP delegates.

He said that as the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, he always believed in seeing the SUPP regain its former glory and contribute to the greater strength of the coalition.

He added that the party had survived three years of in-fighting and factionalism that had brought it to the brink of being deregistered.

"In the darkest moment of the SUPP, I never wanted the SUPP to be deregistered," he said, adding that it should continue to be a political party.

"Nobody is bigger or larger than the interests of the party. We as individuals, we as leaders, we are as good as the party that we represent," he said.

Najib hailed the move by the SUPP to elect a new leadership to helm the state's oldest party during the conference and said he hoped that it would signal the end of factionalism that had been plaguing it.

He said members of the party should now unite behind their leaders to regain the support and confidence of the people in Sarawak.

"Our number one task is to ensure that our party is strong. As chairman of the Barisan Nasional, I must ensure that every component party is strong," he said.

He also wanted the new SUPP leadership, which would be elected tomorrow at the conference, to paint a clear direction for the party and to have a real concrete plan to serve the people in the state.

"We cannot live on rhetoric. We must have specific plans. The plan must work. The plan must be given confidence so that the people in Sarawak will support the SUPP," he said.