All abuzz over absent SAPP reps

2008/06/24

AFTER all the talk that the Sabah Progressive Party would be tabling a motion of no confidence against the prime minister in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, the absence of the party's two MPs when the house convened had tongues wagging.

The opposition bench was spinning conspiratorial theories, suggesting that the two - Datuk Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) and Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) - had been whisked off to some overseas location to prevent them from coming to the house and causing trouble.

Some speculated the two men had jumped ship and joined another BN component party while others believed they did not turn up because they had been bought.

However, Majimbun who was contacted by the NST on the telephone at 11.35am, said he would not be coming to the Dewan Rakyat for two reasons.

"I have a meeting with Datuk Yong (SAPP president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee) and after that I have to attend a relative's funeral. I will not be coming today (June 23). I will be there tomorrow," he said from Kota Kinabalu.
Majimbun said he did not know if Chua would attend the meeting later in the day. Chua could not be reached. Last Wednesday, Yong had vowed to move a motion of no confidence against the prime minister.

On Friday, the SAPP supreme council endorsed Yong's intention.