SANDAKAN – Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Frankie Poon Ming Fung is in denial of it being his fault that two Sabah DAP assemblymen and a former senator left the party, said Elopura representative Calvin Chong Ket Kiun.
Chong said that the main reason for him leaving was because Poon did not seem to want him in the party.
“I have given him time to contact me after the Sabah DAP convention (election) in November last year. No one from the committee came to me. I have lost trust in his leadership,” he told The Vibes.
When responding to Poon’s allegation that the two assemblymen had left the party before the Anti-Hoping Bill was presented in Parliament, Chong stressed that he did not leave DAP to join another party.
“Right now, as an independent assemblyman, I will just focus on serving the people in my constituency. It has not crossed my mind to join another party.
“However, I will consider my direction as a people’s representative next month, which is three months after the Sabah DAP election,” he added.
Chong also stressed that it is not wrong for him and Sri Tanjong assemblyman Justin Wong to leave if they are unhappy with the party, and they are not betraying the mandate of the people as long as they continue to serve their constituents.
Chong and Wong’s departure from the party had made Sabah DAP co-opt Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin and Kepayan rep Jannie Lasimbang into the state committee, only a couple of days after Chong, Wong and former senator Adrian Lasimbang left the party.
A source in the party told The Vibes that the party members are glad that Poon finally decided to make the move and included people’s representatives in the committee.
“We have lost Chong, we cannot lose Chan and Jannie Lasimbang as well or Sabah DAP will collapse. We are glad that this is finally happening but sad that it only happened after Chong left the party,” the source said.
Sabah DAP is now left with four assemblymen – Poon (Tanjung Papat), Phoong Jin Zhe (Luyang), Tan Lee Fatt (Likas) and Jannie Lasimbang (Kapayan).
DAP had three MPs in Sabah – Chan (Kota Kinabalu), Vivian Wong (Sandakan) and Noorita Sual (Tenom). – The Vibes, January 23, 2022
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