Wife of YB Wong Ho Leng blasts own party for failure to provide financial support for brain tumour treatment
Irene Chang, the wife of YB Wong Ho Leng, the DAP MP for Sibu as well as the DAP Sarawak Chairman blasted her own party, the DAP for failing to provide or even offer any form of financial support to her husband in respect of his current medical treatment for brain tumour. Irene Chang was incensed and agitated when after reading the DAP’s media statement on January 13 (reproduced here below) issued by Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng which merely expressed the party’s moral support for the ailing MP.
DAP Insider
Irene is upset because she related that the family spent over AUD 40,000 (equivalent to RM124,000) in the initial treatment and diagnosis for Wong last month.
The current treatment regime of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment in Singapore for the next six weeks is expected to cost at least SGD 60,000 (equivalent to RM150,000) and if brain surgery by way of the latest cyber knife surgery is performed to remove the brain tumour, then the cost per surgery session will be an additional SGD30,000 (equivalent to RM70,000). This does not include the costs of lodging, subsistence and transport for the family, especially Irene who will be with her husband throughout the entire treatment period in Singapore.
The first phase of treatment is for a period of six weeks and thereafter after an intermission period of 3 weeks for review and evaluation, Wong may be required to undergo second phase treatment for another six weeks.
The total cost of related to the medical treatment for Wong may easily hit SGD 200,000 (equivalent to RM500,000) over the next three months.
“Wong is only 53 years old and we have 5 children – 4 of them are still in school and college and universities and hence our financial resources are already very strained. His legal practice suffered after he was elected as the MP for Sibu because he is unable to concentrate full-time on his legal practice which is our main source of income for the family. As a DAP MP, he is expected to contribute a portion of his allowance to the party and more of often than not, the allowance itself is not sufficient to pay for all the related expenses of serving the people as an MP. Every month we have to top up another RM10,000 as additional expenses for serving the people and maintaining our Service Centres,” Irene said.
She further said, “During the Sibu by-election and the Sarawak State election last year, we used up almost all of our personal savings of RM700,000 for campaign expenses as there was very little support from DAP HQ. Then we begged the Foo Chow clansmen and businessmen for donations and financial aid and we managed to raise over RM10 million from friends, relatives and well-wishers…I think we probably spent about RM4 million from that amount but the rest seemed to have been transferred from DAP Sarawak and disappeared into the party coffers in DAP HQ and we have no access to the funds…And now Wong is sick and we need money for his medical treatment and all that Guan Eng can say or do is that the party will support us morally and help service the constituency…Where is the humanitarian support to us in this time of difficulty? Not a single sen coming out from the party after all that we have done and achieved for the party. Shame on you Guan Eng.”
“I heard from Wong complaining to me that the party gave Tony Pua RM1.3 million to produce the stupid Gangnam video for the recent National Convention…my God, they can spend RM1.3 million on videos but they cannot find it in their hearts to give a single sen to us for Wong’s medical treatment. The party leadership is truly heartless…”