The Barisan Nasional supreme council met Thursday (19 June) for more than three hours but did nothing against the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) except for tongue lashing its president, Yong Teck Lee, for saying his party has lost confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also BN’s chief.
The emergency meeting of all component parties of the BN except SAPP was hastily convened at Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur following SAPP’s threat Wednesday (18 June) to table a no confidence motion against Abdullah when Parliament sits for its new session on Monday (23 June).
BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said, “Action on the SAPP will only be decided after obtaining clarification officially from the party's Supreme Council on Yong's statement."
SAPP supreme council is meeting Friday (20 June) to discuss the no confidence move. The talk in town is that Yong took the action on his own without the backing of some of its leaders. BN leaders are hoping that SAPP leaders could be persuaded to distant themselves from Yong and the no confidence move. If this goes through BN would be spared from the dilemma of being forced to sack SAPP and thus delivering them into the arms of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition. The fear is that this would trigger off the much speculated crossover of BN’s lawmaker to the opposition.
SAPP deputy president Raymond Tan was conspicuously absent from the press conference called by Yong to announce the no confidence move in Kota Kinabalu Wednesday (18 June).
But Tan has said, “Don't read into my absence. I have also been absent from some of the party's press conferences in the past.”
However, he added to the confusion by saying that he had not heard of any motion of a vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister to be tabled in Parliament this Monday.
"As far as I am concerned, I don't know. I have to ask the Party President. Why don't you check with the (Parliament) Speaker's Office whether there is going to be one? “
"For heaven's sake, we cannot simply table a motion in Parliament. We are subject to rules and procedures of the august House, and there are requirements to follow. Furthermore, being BN Members of Parliament, they have to subscribe to party discipline," he pointed out. “
Tengku Adnan said at Thursday’s emergency meeting all Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties today strongly criticised the statement by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee that the party had lost confidence in the leadership of the Prime Minister, describing it as lacking principles, unethical and going against the BN's spirit of consensus.
The leaders of the 13 BN component parties present unanimously expressed their solid support for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, according to a statement from the BN Supreme Council which was read by Adnan to the press after the meeting.
Bernama reported that at the meeting, all BN component party leaders were asked and subsequently agreed to ensure that all the BN Members of Parliament from their respective parties were present throughout the Parliament session and follow the instruction of the BN whip and reject any motion on the vote of `no confidence' against Abdullah.
Meanwhile, when asked why SAPP representatives were not invited to the meeting, Tengku Adnan said it was because the meeting was discussing matters that involved the interest of the SAPP.
Asked why the BN Supreme Council did not take the opportunity to ask and listen to the views of the SAPP on all the related issues, Tengku Adnan said their presence was not necessary as the party's views had been stated through the mass media.
He said the SAPP should have discussed with the top leadership before making the declaration that it had lost confidence in the Prime Minister.
MySinchew
20/06/08
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