KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- Judging from the attendance, the recent Sarawak United People's Party convention has been regarded as a "success", prompting party leaders to believe that the party still has strong support from its members.
The party's secretariat had initially expected a turnout of about 5,000 but there were more than 6,000 delegates and observers at the convention.
"It is quite encouraging. I think the members want to show that they still care for and love the party. No doubt a lot of things have been said about our party but this has not deterred us from improving ourselves in facing the coming state election," said SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sim Kheng Hui.
He said the party had been trying hard to reduce internal bickering and strengthen unity, and the effort had to some extent bore fruit with party members focusing more on serving the people.
"We hope the grassroots leaders will work hard... go meet the people. They have begun to engage the younger generation and there has been more participation from them in the party," he said.
Party vice-president Datuk Yong Koon Seng said the party had managed to overcome many challenges in the past and they believed the party would be able to do well again and win the support of Chinese voters in Sarawak.
"Morale is high after they listened to the pep talk on Sunday (Jan 16). There is already some form of mobilisation on the ground and with yesterday's convention, the party members are more upbeat than before," he said.
Historically, SUPP, formed in 1959 and the oldest political party in the state, has survived many turbulent times in the past -- changing from a left-wing, anti-Malaysia political entity into a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party without losing the support of the Sarawak Chinese community.
In the first 15 years of its formation, the party managed to pull through the two critical elections in 1963 and 1970, despite some of its leaders and members being detained and some branches closed by the authorities due to security concerns.
In the 1963 state election, the party won most of the Chinese votes despite their opposing the formation of Malaysia as well as being accused of being communist subversives, with many of its leaders and members arrested. At one time, almost half of its elected Central Working Committee members were jailed.
In 1970, SUPP repeated the feat again, receiving the highest Chinese percentage votes despite being labelled as a "communist front organisation" and facing a crackdown from the authorities with many of its leaders and members detained and some branches ordered to be closed.
Yong recalled that the party also survived another important and critical moment after the 1970 state election -- that was when they had to decide whether to remain as an opposition party or form a coalition with other parties to be the ruling government.
"In the end, they decided to take up the offer to be part of the ruling state government and later became among the founding members of the Barisan Nasional in 1972, a decision that did not go down well with the leftists in the party," he said.
The party was split into two before the moderates in the party finally took control and some of the leftist members left the party as they were unhappy that "SUPP has betrayed its original struggle".
The party then decided to form an alliance with the then Parti Bumiputera (which later merged with Parti Pesaka to form the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak - PBB) and has been part of the Sarawak government since then. Later, SUPP joined the federal government under the Barisan Nasional banner.
"The rest was history until the state election in 2006 that shook many of us when the party lost eight of the 19 seats it contested," said Yong.
"Some of the party leaders lost but the party still survived in the state government," he added.
SUPP lost the Sibu parliamentary seat to DAP in a by-election in May last year.
The fact that the oldest party in the state wanted to change itself and re-emerge as a formidable force did not go unnoticed when state BN chairman Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, for the first time said he was happy that the party wanted to bounce back and transform itself after reaching its lowest ebb in its history in the 2006 state election.
"Thank God. Today, SUPP has shaken itself out. You know your friends in Barisan Nasional will not allow you (SUPP) to fall. When SUPP is attacked, PBB will come to the front and defend you.
"We stand together to build politics of development," Taib said in his speech at the opening of the SUPP convention.
At the convention, BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak asked the party to only select candidates who could win in the coming state election.
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