David Yeo
SIBU (June 7): The five Sibu branches of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) stand united in supporting the proposal for the appointment system of local community leaders to be more people-oriented, and less of it being made to ‘signify past glories’.
The proposal was part of acting PDP Youth chief David Yeo’s recent statement over the appointment of community leaders in Sibu.
“At the same time, we condemn SUPP’s willingness to compromise the future of Sibu District by monopolising these (community leader) appointments for itself.
“Its methods of distorting the facts have carried on for too long, delaying the entire appointment process of community leaders (in Sibu).
“It is time for all to move on and devote themselves to community work for the people,” the five PDP branches said in a joint statement.
The statement said Yeo, as acting PDP Youth chief, had merely proposed that community leader positions be filled in accordance with ‘a fair and just policy’.
“Let the people of Sibu judge their (community leaders’) performance in public service.
“At the same time, we are preparing ourselves to helm the community leaders’ positions, and also the state constituencies in Sibu under fair competition.”
At the same time, PDP said it was perplexed by SUPP’s insistence that it deserved those positions in view of its ‘traditional territories in Sibu’ and thus, it should be the sole party allowed to decide the appointment of community leaders.
In this sense, PDP stressed that all politicians should put the people’s welfare first, regardless of their ‘party’s past glories’.
“The truth is that under the leadership of SUPP, the development in Sibu has remained stagnant for a long time.
“The people deserve leaders who would put the people first, instead of someone ‘with an empty title’ and no achievement to show for it.”
The PDP said it would have never expected that SUPP would continue the rigid belief that it was ‘free to use the privilege’ of appointing community leaders to ‘reward’ influential people in the party.
It stressed that such practice had no place in today’s world.
“We are certain that everyone, including Sibu SUPP, knows that the elections are coming. The first priority should be to fully understand the people’s issues, not to repeatedly make demands about the traditional seats or positions from the past.
“This would only disgust the people. The SUPP must review itself to see if it really does have the commitment to public service.
“SUPP must have the foresight and humility to work alongside the rest (under the Gabungan Parti Sarawak, or GPS) coalition.”
Adding on, PDP said: “SUPP must stop living in the past and wake up from its daydream. As GPS component parties, we must work together to serve the community and bring our mission back to being people-centric.”