Apa dah jadi?

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Serian MP not quitting: Yap
By Churchill Edward
Riot told Dr Chan he will meet PM to reassure him of his loyalty to BN, says SUPP publicity and information secretary
SERIAN: Serian Member of Parliament Datuk Richard Riot Jaem is to make an appointment to see Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to quash rumours that he was quitting the Barisan Nasional (BN).
Riot was still incommunicado yesterday even though Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) insisted that party president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan had contacted him (Riot).
Riot is SUPP central working committee member.
As of yesterday, efforts by newsmen to contact Riot through the telephone failed.
It now appears that only Dr Chan has managed to contact him (Riot) after rumours about him were splashed in several newspapers and on the Internet yesterday.
SUPP publicity and information secretary Datuk Alfred Yap told a packed press conference here that Dr Chan had spoken to Riot yesterday.
And at 2pm Dr Chan relayed Riot’s statement to him (Yap), Yap said.
“Our president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan has spoken to YB Datuk Richard Riot, BN MP for Serian over the phone today.
“YB Datuk Richard felt upset over the rumours as reported in the newspapers,” Yap said, reading a press statement yesterday.
“YB Datuk Richard Riot wishes to clarify and state categorically he is loyal to BN and fully supports the leadership of YAB Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Prime Minister,” the statement said.
Yap said Riot received a strong mandate from voters following his success in garnering a majority of 13,427 votes in the just concluded election.
He would continue to serve as an MP and therefore would continue to bring development to Serian, he added.
SUPP, particularly Dr Chan, had called upon party members and supporters of BN in Serian to remain calm and not to listen to rumours.
Yap said they were also urged to stand solidly behind the BN government under the leadership of Abdullah.
He said the press conference was held to clear the air over the controversies.
Asked on the origin of the rumours, Yap said: “You (reporters) ask me and (now) I am asking you (back).”
He said Riot was in Kuala Lumpur to spend some time off and that was why he was incommunicado.
When asked if the issues or controversies surrounding Riot had now been settled, Yap said: “No issue, actually.”
He was also asked if there was any truth to the rumours that some of Riot’s close aides had gone around collecting SUPP membership cards from those who wished to quit the party.
Yap replied that it was not an instruction from the party but just an act of some frustrated members.
He also assured members of the media that SUPP would again contact Riot to ask him to make a personal statement to quash the rumours.
Yap said it would also be likely that SUPP might be asking the Prime Minister to consider appointing Riot to fill one of the two deputy ministerial posts rejected by two MPs recently.
However, he said the matter was still the prerogative of the prime minister, adding that the other BN parties might also want the posts — Deputy Foreign Minister and Deputy Transport Minister.
On another issue, Yap said Dayak members in SUPP were not marginalised.
He said they had even recommended Riot for a post in the federal administration after two previous parliamentary elections.
“But there is nothing the party could do because such appointment is the prerogative of the prime minister,” he said.
The party then recommended him to be appointed as chairman of government agencies like the Sarawak Rivers Board and Pepper Marketing Board, he said.
Quite recently it has been widely speculated that Riot and some of his supporters were unhappy when none of the three MPs of Bidayuh origin made it to the new federal cabinet.
Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe, who is Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party vice president, was dropped while Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council member Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit was also not appointed by the prime minister.
Riot who was said to have been hoping for at least a parliamentary secretary’s post, did not get it because Abdullah had scrapped the post.
SUPP deputy secretary general Francis Harden Hollis, central working committee member Ranum Mina and SUPP Serian branch deputy chairman Chang Thun Hou were among those present at the press conference.