MCA's Yip quits Perlis state seat

By Clara Chooi

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — MCA’s Titi Tinggi assemblyman Yip Sun Onn has quit his Perlis state assembly seat, paving the way for a by-election.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Isa Sabu today confirmed that he has received the resignation letter but declined to elaborate.

According to the Star Online, the mentri besar is “trying coax Yip into withdrawing his resignation letter”.

Meanwhile, Perlis MCA chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun claimed this afternoon that Yip’s shocking resignation was still unconfirmed.

“It is not finalised yet; all he has done is shown his intention to resign. I just received an SMS from him and apparently, things are OK now. I do not think he will do it,” she told The Malaysian Insider when contacted at 3.30pm today.

She believed that Yip was a mature leader and would know what to do and what not to do.

“I hope and I believe that he will not do it but at the moment what we need to do first is to sit down and discuss things,” she said.

She admitted however that she had been trying unsuccessfully to reach Yip since yesterday and was unsure of the reason behind the assemblyman’s resignation.

"I would like to know what is the real problem; whether it is merely because of his exco position or whether he has some other personal problems,” she said.

Yip was removed from the state executive council and replaced with Indera Kayangan assemblyman Dr Por Choo Chor during the swearing in of the new line-up last Friday.

Meanwhile, an MCA party leader confirmed with The Malaysian Insider that Yip’s resignation was indeed due to the latter’s dissatisfaction with his removal from the state executive council and claimed that it was Chew who was the culprit behind it.

The source claimed that the problem had stemmed from last year when Chew refused to endorse Yip’s post as a member of the state executive council since he was not in her “camp” at the time.

Chew, the Wanita MCA chief, has been one of the prominent leaders at the forefront of the campaign with former party vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai to oust party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

“She even wrote to the mentri besar, saying that she did not want Yip to be an exco member. Then last year in February or March, after an MCA central committee meeting, she submitted a letter to the mentri besar saying that the MCA did not want Yip as an exco member.

“Instead, she offered Dr Por’s name as a replacement. When the mentri besar did not listen to her, she got angry and started saying that he did not respect the MCA CC’s wishes,” said the source.

Following that, the source added, an agreement was reached with Mohd Isa that Yip would be replaced with Dr Por in this year’s line-up.

“It was a mistake because she did not realise that Yip would eventually go over to her camp and Dr Por now supports (former MCA deputy president Datuk Seri) Dr Chua Soi Lek so she pushed all the blame to Tee Keat, saying that it was he who wanted to remove Yip from the council.

“And look now, Yip is angry and has decided to quit,” said the source.



Meanwhile, The Malaysian Insider understands that although Yip had submitted his resignation to the Perlis Speaker yesterday, party members are still trying to coax him into retracting his letter.



Efforts to contact Yip proved futile.