THE Chinese of Sarawak are disappointed that the third deputy chief minister’s post created yesterday by Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg did not go to one from their community.

Although he did not name names, Federation of Chinese Associations for Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions president Richard Wee is evidently questioning why Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian, president of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), was not chosen for the role.

Sim is the Minister of Local Government.  SUPP is the only Chinese-based member in the four-party BN coalition ruling the state. The others in the coalition are the Abang Johari-led Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

The chief minister instead elevated former second minister of resource planning and environment Awang Tengah Ali Hassan to the post of  third deputy chief minister.

Awang Tengah, who as senior vice-president is the third-highest ranked member of PBB, retains his industrial and entrepreneur development portfolio.

However, Wee said that while the Chinese were disappointed at the chief minister’s choice, he personally could “see the reason behind all this”.

He said the Chinese did not have a strong voice because they were not united and were fragmented.

He was referring to the leadership dispute that started in the run-up to the 2011 party election, which ended in the faction headed by the Sibu branch chairman Wong Soon Koh leaving to form United People’s Party (UPP).

Wong is the Sarawak Second Finance Minister and Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce.

“Politics is all about numbers. If you can just try to understand that if we (the Chinese-based parties in BN) can come together, SUPP would be the second largest party in BN. Nobody would ignore that kind of representation,” he told reporters in his office at City Square in Pending.

SUPP has seven assemblymen while UPP has five. Since UPP is not a BN party, the five, including Wong, contested as “BN-direct candidates” in last year’s state election.

Political analyst James Chin, however, was more blunt. It is his view that the appointment of Awang Tengah is “another big slap for Sim and the Chinese community”.

“So much for his b*** s*** that SUPP is making a comeback,” said Chin, the Sarawak-born director of the Asia Institute of the University of Tasmania.

He was referring to the party’s performance in last year’s state election, where the party wrested back five seats from DAP.

Chin said Awang Tengah’s promotion could be  “Abang Johari keeping the deal he made when he became chief minister”.

He said the promotion could also temporarily stop Awang Tengah from mounting a challenge for the presidency of the party and the chief minister’s post.

Abang Johari and Awang Tengah were in a neck-to-neck tussle for the chief minister’s post when longtime chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud stepped down in 2013. But Taib instead picked Adenan Satem to succeed him. – May 7, 2017.