I’m still with the team — Lee

by Philip Kiew, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 31, 2012, Tuesday

CHINESE TRADITION: Lee presents mandarin oranges to one of the shop proprietors in Mosjaya Commercial Centre in conjunction with the Chinese
New Year celebration.

 

Datuk Lee Kim Shin

MIRI: Senadin rep quashes rumours he’s no longer in Wong Soon Koh’s camp.

“Stop all the speculations for I have never changed my stand,” Assistant Minister of Communication Datuk Lee Kim Shin said yesterday when asked to comment on speculations that he had jumped ship to SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin’s camp.

His response puts to rest all speculations which arose after he was spotted at former SUPP president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan’s Chinese New Year open house recently.

Chin, who is at loggerhead with SUPP Sibu chairman Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh’s faction, was also there then.

Asked by reporters last Sunday, Chin declined to comment on the speculations. He said the question was best answered by Lee himself.

Lee, who is also Senadin assemblyman, said he was dismayed by the speculations which were untrue and blown out of proportion.

“It was merely a social visit in the spirit of the Chinese New Year and Chinese tradition of courtesy and respect. It has nothing to do with politics. He (Dr Chan) was my former boss and ex-party president who has retired,” he told The Borneo Post after distributing mandarin oranges to shop proprietors at Mosjaya Commercial Centre during his Chinese New Year walkabout in Miri.

Lee had served as private secretary to Dr Chan, who used to be deputy chief minister. Dr Chan did not seek re-election during the party’s triennial delegates’ conference (TDC) last month following his defeat in Piasau to political novice Alan Ling of the DAP during the 10th state election in April last year.

After serving as Dr Chan’s private secretary, he was appointed a political secretary to the chief minister. He contested in Senadin in 1996 following a delineation exercise and won. He was eventually appointed an Assistant Minister in 2001.

Lee said he remained solidly behind Wong and his faction.

“My stand remained unwavering with Datuk Sri Wong Soh Koh’s group. We await the findings of the Registrar of Societies ( ROS) on complaints about irregularities in some branch elections leading to the TDC.”

Tagged the Wong-Lee group then, they were the first off the block to declare their intention to run for president and secretary-general respectively. In their group are four Bumiputera state assemblymen.

Things started turning ugly when Chin, who is also Miri MP and Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, later joined in the race.

Wong and group all boycotted the TDC, which was held from Dec 9-11 in Kuching and declared opened by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The reason cited was irregularities in the branch elections which had yet to be resolved.

As a result, Chin was elected as the new party president.

The ROS have since sent down officers to investigate the alleged irregularities, but thus far they have not announced their findings.

“As far as we are concerned, all the six of us are still head of the respective SUPP branches. We were never out of the party,” Lee said.