SUPP president Dr. Sim Kui Hian said Chong, as a trained lawyer, should know that the right to vote under the constitution derived from the place of residence.

He said army personnel and government servants were transferred across the country and those on the electoral roll were entitled to vote in the Sarawak state elections because they were stationed and resident in the state.

Last month Chong had been adamant that West Malaysians should not be allowed to vote in the state elections, saying that only state-born people should have the right to decide on who formed the state government.

In a statement today, Dr Sim said Chong’s challenge to provisions in the Federal Constitution as a political issue in the elections was evidence that DAP lacked real issues and were incapable of serving the people in the next five years.

He also described as illogical Chong’s recent statement that people should vote for current DAP candidates because of what he called the failure of the deputy chief minister from the SUPP.

Dr Sim said the past deputy chief minister was not even a candidate. “The only relevant past performance is those of the candidates standing for election,” he said and asked Chong to focus on his record “and not resort to desperate tactics to divert attention from his lack of performance”.

The SUPP and the DAP are locked in a battle for primacy in the Chinese community. Ten SUPP candidates are being fielded by the Barisan Nasional while the DAP has named 30 candidates.

Dr Sim, a cardiologist at Kuching hospital, is the Barisan Nasional candidate in Batu Kawah, seeks to upset Christina Chiew Wang See (DAP) who won the seat in 2011. They are challenged by independent candidate Liu Thian Leong.

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SUPP: We can check and balance from inside

Chong: SUPP failed, even with deputy CM