Dr Sim vs Chong: SUPP president denies he was referring to defendant in response to reporters

The court complex in Kuching.

By Dorcas Ting

KUCHING, Dec 13: The cross examination of Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president Dr Sim Kui Hian continued in the Kuching High Court today in his legal suit against Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen.

The cross-examination was led by Senior Defence Counsel Chong Siew Chiang.

During the cross-examination, when Siew Chiang referred the witness to a publication by Borneo Post online on April 17, 2020, Dr Sim admitted that he had expressed his disappointment to reporters over some opposition politicians who were allegedly playing politics during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that during Covid-19, people were not supposed to move around under the Movement Control Order (MCO), and in fact, one can be charged for breaking the MCO.

He said that at the time, he was responding to a question from the reporters about a video on social media showing a person carrying a bag of rice.

When asked who the opposition politician was that he was referring to in his statement, Dr Sim said he was shown a video but cannot be certain who the opposition politician was because it was quite a while ago.

When asked if he was referring to any particular opposition politician, he said he was not referring to any particular opposition politician, and during the MCO, no one should be moving around freely.

Siew Chiang referred Dr Sim to a news report in the Borneo Post on April 17, 2020, where the witness uttered, “I don’t see them carry rice most of the time. That’s the only time to carry rice (and it is) just for show” and asked the witness if that is a true report of what he actually told the Borneo Post reporter. Dr Sim said he could not remember the exact video but it was someone carrying the rice, and no one should be carrying rice during the MCO and moving around.

When asked if he agreed that the defendant Chieng Jen, was specifically mentioned in his statement in a DayakDaily news report published on April 17, 2020, Dr Sim disagreed.

He said he never gave a press statement, but as explained earlier, it was during the daily Covid-19 update press conference, and some reporters showed him a video of someone carrying rice.

He stressed that he has no editorial control over the DayakDaily news report published on April 17, 2020.

He disagreed that the video shown is only a video showing someone carrying a bag of rice during MCO.

He said, in fact, the video seems to be self-produced for self-promotion, and he has no idea who the rice was given to and where it was distributed during the MCO. To him, that video is a political stunt.

When asked why he thinks that the act of the defendant going out almost every day during the time of MCO is an act of politicking for personal gain, he said it is because the food aid distribution was done by the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC), and everyone can participate through DDMC in a coordinated way without running around with overlapping food aid distribution, as well as follow strict standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

He agreed that anyone going out to distribute food to the needy during MCO ran a high risk of being infected by the Covid-19 virus.

When asked why no enforcement officer or the police had stopped the defendant and members of his team from distributing food aid, which was carried out almost every day during the MCO period, Dr Sim said he had no idea why no enforcement officer or the police had stopped the defendant and members of his team from distributing food aid. He also said that during the MCO, the enforcement officers and the police were overstretched because air, sea, and land borders were also locked down.

“We were depending on the public to play their roles and do their parts, especially working from home and staying at home. The war against Covid-19 was unprecedented and required all of us to fight the war together.”

When asked if his allegation against the defendant was made with the motive of tarnishing the defendant’s good image, he disagreed.

He said he has no reason to tarnish the defendant’s image, even though he is his political rival, if only the defendant tells the truth and was based on facts.

Sim was represented by counsels Shankar Ram Asnani, Russell l Lim and Yiu Ying Ying whereas Chieng Jen was represented by counsels Siew Chiang, Michael Kong and Sharon Lo. — DayakDaily