(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): Former DAP MP for Kuching, Sim Kwang Yang said at a media conference in Petaling Jaya yesterday that the Sarawak State Leadership Mediation Team had failed miserably, that he was very disappointed and wanted to apologise to all leaders and members.
He predicted that the DAP National Congress on August 22 and 23 would be a very divisive one and would not be good for the party.
On 18th July 1998, I had expressed surprise at Sim�s statement that the Sarawak State Leadership had formed an independent mediation team to convene a "roundtable conference" and that he had become the spokesman of the Sarawak State Leadership Mediation Team - which were all news to be at the time.
I have just been in telephone contact with the DAP Sarawak State Chairman, Jason Wong Sing Nang, and he confirmed what Sarawak State leaders had been telling me for the past three weeks that they did not know what Sim was talking about and what he said or did was without the authority of the Sarawak State leadership.
The Sarawak State leadership had never formed any "independent mediation group" and the question of the Sarawak State Leadership failing in its mediation efforts and pulling out of all mediation work simply do not arise.
(12/8/98)