SANDAKAN – Once comrades but now on opposite sides, Elopura rep Calvin Chong recently ruffled the feathers of DAP’s Sandakan MP Vivian Wong when he said that Sabah was treated unfairly and suppressed under Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) administration.
Wong, who is also Sabah DAP publicity secretary, said she was disappointed with Chong’s repeated attacks on the party after he had switched sides.
“I am surprised by Chong’s statement to justify why he chose to join Warisan. I wonder if he has suffered from selective memory loss, and conveniently forgotten the fact that when PH was in power, Warisan had three ministers and two deputy ministers in the government,” she said in a statement yesterday.
Chong, a former DAP member who is now with Warisan, posted on his Facebook page last Friday that Sabah was suppressed under PH, and that he joined Warisan because the party fights for the rights and interests of Sabahans without leaders from Peninsular Malaysia.
Chong said that when DAP was part of the ruling PH government, they did not appoint representatives from Sabah and Sarawak as ministers, with just one Sarawakian being appointed as a deputy minister.
He also criticised the then finance minister Lim Guan Eng for the lack of work done on Sandakan’s Duchess of Kent Hospital, despite allocating almost RM200 million for the purpose.
Wong said it does not matter if Chong jumped to the ruling party or Warisan, as switching political alliances after winning the seat under DAP was a big let-down for Elopura voters.
“Such a defection cannot be condoned and accepted by the people and voters,” she said.
He (Chong) alleged that joining Warisan would mean that he will not be led by the nose by a West Malaysian party. It is such a weak excuse to rationalise his move to switch parties.”
Wong reminded Chong that he had joined DAP over a decade ago and contested in three consecutive state elections (2013, 2018, and 2020) representing the party.
“Why is he uttering such a claim only now? Is he implying that he did not understand what Sabahans need, and did not fight for Sabahans’ rights at all for the past 10 years and more?” she added.
Wong also said it was unwarranted and unjust for Chong to accuse DAP national chairman Lim of not bringing development to Sandakan, when he had brought in several projects such as the Sandakan Airport runway extension, the Sg Anib monsoon drainage upgrade, new mobile ultrasound scanners and dental chair sets, as well as the very first MRI machine in the east coast of Sabah for Duchess of Kent Hospital.
“Why didn’t Chong question the current government on the number of projects for Sandakan that were cancelled abruptly after the Sheraton Move?” she asked.
Wong said she wants Chong to know that Warisan is not exactly a local party anymore, having expanded to the peninsula and contested the recent Johor election.
“Chong and I were once comrades, and we had stood together for several election battles. It really saddens and disappoints me to hear all these baseless and unfounded claims from a former brother in arms,” she said.
Wong and Chong’s offices are located in the same building at Bandar Letat Mile 3 here; Chong on the first floor and Wong on the second floor.
Last week, Chong organised an appreciation dinner with about 200 of his supporters who had contributed to him winning the Elopura seat in the 2020 state elections, which was won when he was still with DAP.
In his speech, he brushed off criticism that he was a political frog for joining Warisan only two months after his departure from DAP.
He said that he had once rejected RM3 million in cash offered to him to join the “opposite side”.
If I was a frog, I would have gone to the opposite side, not to the neighbouring side; I would have accepted the offers back then,” he said.
Although the dinner aimed to “convert” his supporters from his former party to Warisan, Chong said that the dinner was only held recently as it was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This dinner was long overdue. It is to show my appreciation for my supporters who have helped me during my journey as a candidate to win the Elopura seat in the last state election,” he said. – The Vibes, May 17, 2022
