KUCHING, Jan 24: Former Pelagus Assembly and Assistant Minister Larry Sng has openly expressed his intention to contest in Julau in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
Larry believes that though Julau is an Iban majority area, race would not be an issue because his father Datuk Sng Chee Hua (Sng) was once the Member of Parliament representing the constituency.
“I register my interest to contest in Julau for PRU14 (GE14). However I ought to rebut and clarify some points raised by (Datuk Joseph) Salang (Gadung), particularly on race matters.”
“My father, Sng Chee Hua, served as the MP prior to Salang between 1995-1999. He won the seat with 86.94 per cent of voters (10,730 votes), recording the highest majority of votes ever received in the history of Julau constituency.
“Clearly race was not an issue then, so why is it an issue now?” said Larry in a post on his Facebook page yesterday.
He express his belief that Salang has contributed to the area in the last 18 years as the elected representative. However, it is also his belief that people now wanted change.
“My supporters on the ground, do not run Salang down. On the contrary, we thank him for his past services. But 18 years is a long time and people want change.
“Even by his own admission, he has previously indicated his intention to step down before the last election. Perhaps he should consider retiring gracefully, while he still can,” said Larry.
Larry, however, agreed with Salang that there should be no money politics and questioned if Salang was the one playing money politics in Julau.
“I am also surprised that Salang would think that money politics is an issue. I do agree with him that there should be no money politics, so who is giving money here?
“Although I am not a local (and neither is Salang), I believe that with my experience in government and my commitment to serve the people of Julau, I will be the best person to represent this area in this election.
“I believe in giving assistance to the poor and needy with a focus on education, which is why I established the Larry Sng Education Fund back in 2001,” said Larry.
Larry was rebutting Salang who had raised doubts about Sng’s claim that Larry is the chosen candidate of Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the upcoming general election.
Salang who is a four-term Member of Parliament made his remarks at a meet-the-people session at Rumah Sabang in Rantau Limau in Julau recently.
Apart from that, Salang also brought up the issue of race as Julau is an Iban majority area.
Salang also pointed out that Julau is a seat allocated to Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), and both Sng and Larry had been expelled from the party. — DayakDaily
