Kuching SUPP chief Lily Yong questioned Kuching South mayor Wee Hong Seng’s rationale for rejecting the application to hold the charity event when such gatherings had been approved by previous mayors.

Yong, a former councillor with the Kuching South City Council (MBKS), said many of these past events had also involved politicians and there were no regulations prohibiting such gatherings from being held in hawker centres.

Wee, however, said no political events were permitted in public areas under MBKS’s jurisdiction, except during election campaign periods, Dayak Daily reported.

“We have to make decisions in accordance with the council’s rules and ordinances. We cannot set a precedent, as that could lead to difficulties in managing areas under MBKS’s jurisdiction.

“Furthermore, hawker centres are not suitable for such gatherings as business operations and customers would be affected,” said Wee, the Pending SUPP vice-chairman.

Wee expressed disappointment that the decision had been labelled as an abuse of power.

Yong, a former SUPP vice-president who has been leading the Kuching chapter for 23 years, stirred controversy during the 2021 state election when she dissolved the party’s election machinery for the Padungan seat.

She had done so in protest against Gabungan Parti Sarawak naming Wee as the coalition’s candidate for the seat.

Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen went on to defend the seat for his party with a 1,198-vote majority against Wee.

Chong’s special officer Michael Kong had also questioned Wee’s decision to reject the application to hold the event at the hawker centre, saying a similar charity event involving SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian was held at another hawker centre two weeks ago.

That event, Wee said, was organised by the hawker association itself and therefore the application was “justified and approved”.