IPOH: A DAP state assemblyman’s disappearance caused another round of anxiety within the Pakatan Rakyat state government yesterday.
State assembly deputy speaker and Jelapang assemblyman Hee Yit Foong was said to have gone missing and was incommunicado for several hours yesterday.
Her disappearance fuelled further speculation about the Pakatan leader crossing over to Barisan Nasional.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng even came out with a statement stating that any Perak DAP elected representatives who was incommunicado for more than 24 hours without reason would find their seats vacated.
Hee had been embroiled in a controversy emanating from frustrations that had been rising steadily over the two cousins – Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and state DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming. Hee is said to belong to a faction opposed to the two cousins.
During her short disappearance yesterday, Lim issued a stern warning that the party would seriously consider calling a by-election in the event of any Perak DAP elected representative going incommunicado for 24 hours without any just cause.
At a press conference late last night at her residence in Taman Ehsan here, Hee hit out at Lim saying she was disappointed by his press statement, adding that he should have investigated first before releasing the press statement.
She also demanded Lim to apologise to her constituents for causing the unnecessary uproar.
She quashed claims that she had resigned from Pakatan and joined MCA or Gerakan.
Hee said she is still a DAP member and Jelapang’s elected representative.
“It’s all just a rumour and hearsay spread by unscrupulous people, I don’t need to explain anything,” she said.
“I have never had any intention of leaving the party and would feel very heavy-hearted if I did,” said Hee, who has been with the party for almost 22 years.
She also explained that she was absent from an emergency meeting held by Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin yesterday morning because of her sickness.
“I had switched off my mobile phone yesterday because I was down with fever,” she said.
“Party leaders and other assemblymen could have tried contacting me through my husband’s mobile phone but they did not do it,” she added.
“I’m surprised that people thought I was in hiding and that I had held discussions with Barisan Nasional when they couldn’t get me,” she said. She added that she had told Titi Serong assemblyman Khalil Idaham Lim Abdullah about not being able to attend the meeting.
When asked whether she had been approached by Barisan Nasio-nal component parties to join them, Hee said she had not been approached by anyone.
However, several hours before the press conference Hee said she was away in the morning to visit her mother.
Asked whether she was crossing over as rumoured, she said: “I am not going to say anything. I have not gone missing.”
Hee is said to be a staunch supporter of Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan who does not see eye-to-eye with the two cousins.
Fong had even gone to the stage of announcing her refusal to defend her Batu Gajah seat last March because of the differences.
However, Fong changed her mind when the national leadership intervened.
Malaysiakini's report when out.
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