SIBU, Nov 22: Ngemah incumbent Alexander Vincent is confident he has a “100%” chance of retaining the seat in the coming 12th Sarawak State Election if he is given the chance to defend his seat.
He also felt that his party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) would be going against the wish of its president the late Tan Sri James Masing if any incumbent is dropped.
“There are words flying around that two names for the Ngemah seat have been submitted by the party to GPS. I feel that this would be against the wish of Tan Sri James as when he was still with us then, he said the name of the 11 incumbents from PRS have been sent to the Chief Minister for consideration,” he said.
Alexander also claimed that Masing had never said he (Vincent) should give up the seat to a new person.
“The late James had never said that I have to stop contesting. Instead he told me to work harder. I have since then being doing that on his advice,” he added.
Alexander further said that he wanted to assure the party that if he is re-nominated to stand in the election, he could 100 per cent win it again for the third time.
“I have gone down to my constituency and the people told me that they want me to defend my seat. I feel that it is important for GPS to consider the people’s wish when making the decision on the candidate,” he added.
However he would respect and accept openly whatever decision is made by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leadership later. He also hoped the candidate chosen would win the seat.
Some residents of Ngemah when approached expressed their wish to see Alexander continue as their elected representative.
Ngemah PRS Women Wing Secretary Daisy Andrew said there is no better candidate than Alexander to contest for the seat.
“He has been with us for 10 years already and we want him to continue representing us,” she said.
A longhouse chief from Mapai area, Tuai Rumah Bajut Jangok, also hoped Alexander will stand for the seat again.
“He has helped to build a road in our area. Firstly we hope he is given the chance to contest in the seat again as we want the road to be extended to Kanowit town.
“Secondly we don’t want anybody else except Alexander for the seat,” said Tr Bajut.
A councillor of Kanowit district council, Simon Bida concurred with Daisy and Tr Bajut.
“I want to thank the GPS government for giving us the allocation for the repair of our church. Thus we hope Alexander can continue serving us as we want more roads, parking space and toilet facility for our church,” said Simon.
PRS Youth chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan had on Nov 18 said a new face might be fielded in Ngemah.
He reasoned that PRS does not want to take chances as the majority of votes won by Alexander in the two previous elections had dropped from 990 in the 2011 election to 154 in the 2016 election. — DayakDaily
