SAPP to support no-confidence motion

riday July 11, 2008 MYT 5:49:53 PM
SAPP to support no-confidence motion
By MUGUNTAN VANAR


KOTA KINABALU: The two Sabah Progressive Party MPs will support Pakatan Rakyat’s motion of no confidence against the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

In a joint statement e-mailed to the media, Sepanggar MP Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun and Tawau MP Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui said their action was in line with the party’s June 18 announcement that it lost confidence in the Prime Minister.

"We reiterate SAPP’s loss of confidence in the Prime Minister and the need for urgent government measures to address issues on Sabah rights and current concerns (fuel and food prices hike) plaguing the state,” they said in the statement.

Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee had said earlier this week that the party was putting on hold its intention to move the no-confidence motion on grounds of inflammatory and threatening statements from some government leaders.

Yong had said that the statements included veiled threats of bloodshed uttered in Parliament by Kota Belud MP Datuk Ab Rahman Dahlan.

The prospect that two non-Malay MPs from SAPP were going to bring a Malay Prime Minister into disrepute was an excuse by those who uttered racist threats, he said.

Now that a motion of no-confidence is being proposed by a Malay MP - Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the opposition leader - the race factor is eased, the statement said without any reference to Abdullah’s announcement of a transition by mid-2010.