BATU Lintang assemblyman See Chee How said he resigned from Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) to “be free of party politics” so he could spend more time on the social work he’s been doing. 

“My concern every day is to give back, to fulfil my obligation and responsibility to make a positive difference each day for ... Sarawak and all Sarawakians without the toil of party politics,” the three-term assemblyman for the populous and Chinese-majority Kuching constituency told a press conference at his service centre in Sg Maong bazaar today.

See, who for the first two terms, won the seats on a PKR ticket, joined PSB in May 2020. 

A close friend and former PKR colleague of See’s however told The Malaysian Insight that See quit the party because he was “disillusioned with PSB”. 

The friend said the party “is basically Soon Koh and George Lo’s”, referring to PSB president Wong Soon Koh and its secretary-general. 

“They have their own personal agendas,” the friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. 

See at his press conference took pains to avoid saying anything negative about Wong or PSB, though he did hint their separation might not have been mutual. 

See said he had been mulling leaving PSB “for quite a number of months” and had two meetings with Wong before submitting his resignation on Friday. 

State assembly speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nasar on Sunday made public See’s resignation. 

See dismissed any plans to join another political party so he could maintain his “political independence” to work with civil society groups, “anybody and everybody as long as it’s towards making Sarawak better”. 

That, he added, includes working with PSB and PKR. 

On demands by Wong that he vacate the Batu Lintang seat to comply with the commitment he made before being chosen as a candidate in the December state elections, See, a lawyer, said he could not comment on it as the issue might end up in court. 

See however said he did not sign the undertaking letter voluntarily. 

See retained his seat by the skin of his teeth in a five-way fight, winning by a majority of only 93 votes against ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak candidate Sih Hua Tong. 

Sih pulled 4,327 votes to See’s 4,420. 

The other three candidates are Cherishe Ng of PKR, Voon Lee Shan (Parti Bumi Kenyalang) and Leong Shaow Tung (Aspirasi). 

See had a majority of 8,381 votes when he won the seat for the first time in the 2011 election, but the majority whittled down to 4,385 in his first defence in the 2016 polls. – August 16, 2022.